Eby welcomes new business coalition committed to public safety in B.C.

Premier David Eby says he welcomes the formation of the new Save Our Streets (SOS) “public safety coalition” in B.C.

He says if this group — made up of big-name retailers, business groups, and community associations — has suggestions for the province to combat street crime and violence, he wants to hear them.

The coalition was announced Monday morning at an event near Hastings and Abbott streets in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood.

During the unveiling, London Drugs Chief Operating Officer and SOS chairperson Clint Mahlman explained the group is province-wide, and demands that all levels of government step up to end what he described as the “growing crime, violence and vandalism, and theft crisis impacting our local communities.”

Eby says he hopes the presence of this group in B.C. will help push the federal government to make decisions his government hasn’t been able to get Ottawa to budge on.

Particularly, pertaining to a federal bill that would tighten bail rules and stop the revolving door of “arrest – release – arrest” for prolific repeat offenders, he says.

“We went to Ottawa to individually lobby senators to tell them how important these rule changes were to ensure that the public has confidence in the criminal justice system and it has not passed yet,” Eby says.

Frustratingly, Eby says the bail reform bill is stuck in the Senate and his calling out of the courts for failing to act on bail recommendations from the crown hasn’t resulted in anything.

Eby says since the thick of the pandemic, there has been an increase in visible street disorder – like people struggling with mental health and addiction – as well as an increase in random violent attacks.

He says the province is working to mitigate crime and offer support to those struggling. He points to B.C.’s recently announced rules about public consumption of hard drugs and programs designed to intervene with people struggling on the province’s streets.

“The goal of our government continues to be to intervene in a way that supports people struggling with mental health, addiction and homelessness,” he says.

-With files from  Mike Lloyd, Martin MacMahon and Charlie Carey