IN THE LEDGE – ‘When will this Attorney General stop being soft on crime?’

Excerpt from Question Period in the B.C. Legislature on May 11, 2022.

P. Milobar: Let’s be clear — no one believes this Attorney General, with his background, is tough on crime. Everyone knows and everyone agrees that his catch-and-release system has failed miserably. It’s been failing year over year over year — all five years that he’s been the Attorney General.

The numbers are getting worse. Public perception of safety in their own community is getting worse. We’re hearing of four-plus unprovoked stranger attacks in Vancouver each and every day. Seventeen-year-olds in Surrey getting kneed and punched and kicked in the head while they’re trying to take a bus home, where they should feel safe. Terrace. Prince George. Kamloops.

Name the city. This is happening on the streets.

This Attorney General chooses to slough it off, and how does he slough it off? He tells us he’s going to have creative solutions last week. Everyone just wait for it. I’ve got creative solutions. His creative solution? Wait four months for another report, so another 500 people in Vancouver and in Chinatown can be attacked, let alone every other city in this province. That’s his creative solution. It’s as if he’s not in charge of a ministry, and the Solicitor General doesn’t have a ministry fully staffed with subject matter experts that could have been providing advice over the last two years on how to deal with this problem.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

P. Milobar: Again, when is the Attorney General going to stop passing the buck, stop his catch-and-release, stop being so soft on crime and start providing some results and some safety to the communities that have been demanding it and will keep demanding it over the next four months?

Hon. D. Eby: It is interesting the kind of crime that the opposition is interested in and the kind that they weren’t interested in. You know, when I took over responsibility for the gaming portfolio, and I was shown videos of people unloading bundles of $20 bills out of duffle bags.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. D. Eby: I wonder if anyone on that side asked themselves the question: “Where does that money come from?” And what does it mean as a government that we accept that and support the activity that generates that money? I just offer that as an observation.

I will say that I’m incredibly grateful to the chamber of commerce in Terrace, to Mayor Basran, to Mayor Helps, to many people who have expressed their support for this important work. The same way that we fixed the crime that was happening in B.C. casinos — that government ignored — that same method is what we’re doing here. We’ve got experts in the area identifying solutions that we can….

Interjections.

Hon. D. Eby: What have we fixed? People walked into casinos with duffle bags full of cash, and we banned that activity. And in two weeks…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. D. Eby: …the money from the drug transactions that are taking place in the Downtown Eastside through B.C. casinos, under their watch….

Mr. Speaker: Leader of the Official Opposition, please. Members. Come to order. Attorney has the floor.

Hon. D. Eby: We’re not afraid to address the issues. We have the support of mayors. We have the support of the chamber of commerce in Terrace for taking these steps. We’re going to address this issue just like we addressed all of the other messes that that government left us with.

Source: B.C. Hansard.