Plenty of challenges ahead for Eby’s new cabinet: Bond

Yesterday (Monday) saw Premier David Eby announce his new cabinet in the wake of his narrow election win in October.

One of the more high-profile changes saw Adrian Dix moved from Health Minister to the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions.

Josie Osborne, who was the Minister responsible for energy will take over the Health portfolio.

Former Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond says Dix’s move is not necessarily surprising.

“Healthcare was one of the primary issues throughout the campaign and before that,” Bond said.

“I think some people might be surprised about where he landed, obviously a Ministry where there will still be significant policy work to do, and the replacement Health Minister, when you think about Josie Osborne, she does have experience as a cabinet minister.”

Bond said Osborne is competent in the legislature, but she’ll still have a steep learning curve and some big challenges to address.

The new cabinet also saw the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions get folded back into the Ministry of Health, with Amna Shah becoming the Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health and Addictions.

“That is one of, I think the big challenges this cabinet faces, and it’s an interesting decision by the Premier to say the least,” Bond said.

“We have an enormous challenge with mental health and addictions, the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, when you think about the number of people that die everyday in British Columbia as a result of an overdose, to roll that back into the Ministry of Health, certainly a Parliamentary Secretary has a role to play, but nowhere near the responsibility or the breadth of work that a Cabinet Minister has.”

Bond noted BC was, at one time, the only province that had a standalone ministry to address mental health and addictions.

“The bottom line is this though, most British Columbians aren’t going to know what the Ministries are called or necessarily who the Ministers even are,” she said.

“What they want is a government that works effectively to solve problems, so if this new alignment of ministries is going to be effective, then that’s good news, but I think there are a lot of people questioning the decision to roll the two ministries back together, what people want is action, and they want it now.”

Bond added the BC Government can’t afford to ignore the crisis that is ongoing in the province when it comes to the overdose crisis.

Another interesting shake-up saw Mike Farnworth move over to Transportation and Transit from his previous role as the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Garry Begg, the new MLA for the Surrey-Guildford riding that was hotly contested and gave the NDP their slim majority, will take over the Public Safety Ministry as well as the Solicitor General title.

“I think David Eby sent a pretty strong message, he has Garry Begg, former RCMP officer, but not only that, he also has help in that Ministry,” Bond said.

“In fact we have two former police officers now working in the Public Safety Ministry, we have Terry Yung who is a new MLA.”

Yung will be the Minister of State for Community Safety.

“So together, Garry Begg and Terry Yung will have to address the issues of crime, the revolving door the justice system is experiencing, that was also another significant issue that British Columbians said they want this government to deal with.”

Bond said one Minister for Northerners to keep an eye on will be Brittny Anderson, who is now the Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities.

“I hope that Brittny Anderson plans to spends a lot of time of Northern British Columbia and in our rural communities, understanding the significant issues that we are facing,”

“There’s a lot to do in Northern BC, and we have a Minister of State that now has the word rural in her title, so I am hopeful that there will be meaningful work done, it seems to be a recognition by the Premier that he does not have many MLAs who have experience in rural communities.”