Downtown street disorder, the downtown security camera pilot, and much more were on the docket when Premier David Eby met with the leadership of both the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Prince George while he was in Prince George this week for the BC Natural Resources Forum.
“I feel that the Premier heard the concerns of both the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Prince George in terms of that despite all the spending the province has done on housing, on health, and helping out with the City in terms of public security, on getting the Moccasin Flats encampment closed, that there’s still lots of work,” said Chamber Executive Director Neil Godbout.
“In many ways, I think the Premier was quite frustrated to hear that, and this is how I put it to him, and how I put it to his Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger back in November, it just perpetually feels like one step forward and two steps back.”
Godbout said local businesses are continuing to hurt, and referenced the fires at the downtown CrossRoads location, as well as the Nechako Bottle Depot.
“That one we don’t know for sure whether it was arson or not, but again, the loss of two prominent businesses due to fire,” he said.
“I think the Premier heard us that despite some progress, there’s still plenty of work to be done.”
Godbout said one of the things that came up for work going forward was around Crown Counsel, and the discussion around bail reform in the House of Commons.
“What we’ve heard locally is that Crown Counsel are inadequately staffed and so as a result, they can only pursue so many cases,” he said.
“The cases that are more violent crime, serious crime, get processed first, and the cases they consider less serious, and we would call those the street disorder cases, vandalism, theft, but even up to and including arson are just not pursued. We definitely need more resources there as well.”
Godbout said they stressed they’re looking for more immediate assistance.
“There was a discussion about the security camera program, what that looks like and how the City is supporting it, and how we can possibly expand it,” Godbout said.
Godbout said he’s hopeful this will be the start of further conversations down the road.
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