Ask and you shall receive.
The Prince George Chamber of Commerce got their wish to meet with Premier David Eby during his two-day stopover in Prince George during the B.C. Natural Resources Forum at the Conference and Civic Centre.
As expected, public disorder and social issues surrounding the downtown core dominated much of the conversation.
In September at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention in Victoria, Eby announced two more involuntary care sites for people with severe mental illness would be located in Prince George and Surrey.
When asked for an update, he noted the province is working feverishly to speed up the process.
“Yeah, I felt some urgency on that when I met with the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. They have underlined anxiety over the safety of people on the streets in terms of their mental health. We have had discussions that it will likely be a 60-bed facility, we have a site identified and we are working with the health authority to do this.”
“We have our budget process that is taking place in February, and our expectation is we will be able to provide more details after the budget.”
Eby stated there was a back and forth with the chamber on how the increasing patrols from the Prince George RCMP and the new pilot project regarding security cameras in the downtown core might dent some of the high-risk behaviors and crime in the area.
The closure of the Moccasin Flats encampment was also brought up.
In all cases, Eby and his fellow ministers are awaiting some returns on that investment.
“From my perspective, British Columbia has invested a lot of money in Prince George to close the encampments, around policing projects and other initiatives like involuntary care and the results are not manifesting in terms of the downtown core from their perspective.”
“Our conversation was how do we close that gap with the work that British Columbia is doing as a province supporting Prince George and the reality on the streets faced by store owners. It was a very constructive conversation, and I am going to take their feedback to our team, and we are going to find a path forward. We clearly have more work to do to ensure that sense of safety in the downtown area.”
The BC Natural Resources Forum wraps up tomorrow (Thursday).
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