How the BC Conservatives plan to tackle crime and public safety

B.C.’s newly elected Conservative government is promising to tackle crime and public safety.

The Conservatives pledged to end open drug use, improve access to mental health care and empower police to enforce the Mental Health Act to connect people with mandatory treatment.

“Here is what British Columbians told us over the past few years,” B.C.’s Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson said on Sunday.

“They want a province that they can afford. They want an emergency room that is open at 2 a.m. when their child is sick. They want a main street they can walk down safely; they want good jobs, and they want their kids to be able to build a life here instead of packing up for another part of the country.”

One Vancouver small business owner is optimistic that things will change.

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Kurtis Lemon says he’s witnessed public drug use and street disorder outside his downtown Vancouver flower shop.

“There’s nobody here that’s holding anybody accountable at all,” he told Global News.

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“They’re just free to do whatever they want, steal from retailers to buy drugs and it needs to stop.”

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Criminal lawyer Ravi Hira says the provincial government has the powers to act on those campaign promises, unlike the forced treatment David Eby’s NDP tried to implement.

“You may have some mental health problems, but you’re able to consent or not consent to treatment and what he was doing through his legislation, which was found to be unconstitutional, was to take that right away and leave it with a bureaucrat,” he said.

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“The courts said you can’t do that.”

The BC Conservatives’ plan has not been tested in court.

The Safe Streets campaign pledge included hiring 250 more police officers and adding 500 RCMP officers over five years in rural communities plagued by crime.

“Our justice system has basically been stuck due to a lack of judges, a lack of resources and for 10 years the NDP didn’t care,” Hira said.

The Conservatives also promised to hire 50 new prosecutors, work with Ottawa to fund 20 more trial judges and add sheriff and court capacity, so delays don’t allow criminals to walk free.

Hira said that is a crucial move.

Lemon, who beat his own severe addiction to cocaine, said consequences are needed to spur rapid change.

“If we’re just standing around waiting for these people to put their hand up and ask for help or say I’m ready for help, I don’t think that we’re gonna solve the problem,” he said.

“Some of these people are so far gone past the point of asking for help or giving themselves a chance to get some help.”