Premier David Eby Tuesday (Oct. 29) acknowledged the existence of an "urban-rural" divide in B.C. as he continued to reach out to rural B.C. during his first post-election press conference in the provincial legislature building.
"I do see an urban-rural divide in the election results," he said. "It's very concerning to me. We need to govern for the entire province. We need to represent the entire province and that is what we are going to do."
Eby made these comments, when asked how his cabinet is going to represent areas outside the Lower Mainland with only a handful of New Democrats elected in rural ridings.
The final vote count shows with B.C. NDP with 47 seats, enough for a bare majority. But the party won just three ridings east of Hope: Vernon-Lumby (Harwinder Sandhu), Kootenay-Monashee (Steve Morissette) and Kootenay-Central (Brittny Anderson). The Conservative Party of B.C. under Leader John Rustad, himself from northern B.C., painted large swaths of the province blue in winning 44 seats.
Eby said his party "elected some great MLAs from outside the Lower Mainland" but acknowledged the divide.
"If one part of the province is not successful, then the whole province is going to struggle," he said. "We need to work together...that was a big message during the campaign and one that we saw in the results as well."
These comments echoed Eby's earlier comments during a radio interview on CKNW Tuesday morning in which he blamed concerns about rural health care -- especially emergency rooms — for his party's poor performance in rural parts of B.C. in promising to make health care a top priority.
Eby also weighed in on another issue that mattered in rural parts of the province: the future of the Land Act. It governs 95 per cent of the provincial land mass and government earlier this year ended plans to amend the legislation, citing the need for more consultation following months of conflict. Eby then said during the election campaign that a future government of his won't bring back the elements that had caused the initial round of controversy.
Central to the issue are agreements under Section 6 and 7 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which establishes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the basis for reconciliation. Agreements under those sections allow the province to enter “agreements with a broader range of Indigenous governments and to exercise statutory decision-making authority together.”
Critics at the time had accused government of downplaying the consultation to avoid attention and was planning to give First Nations veto power over land decisions, something government as represented by Cullen denied.
So if those elements are off the table, what do the next steps for implementing DRIPA look like, Eby was asked.
"The message we have for our First Nations partners in governance is that they remain critically important partners and we are going to work with them on their priorities and on the priorities of British Columbians," he said.
He added that that next four years offer an opportunity to show that everybody benefits from agreements from with Indigenous communities. However, the Land Act changes were not connected to any specific agreement, Eby said.
"It created huge anxiety in the business community, in rural communities. 'What does it mean? What is it going to look like for us?' So there's lesson in that for us." That lesson, he added, included "better communication."
"I know our Indigenous partners are on side for that as well. It's hard work, but we are going to do it."
Eby also used his first meeting with the legislative press gallery to comment and reflect on the political and personal lessons of the close election outcome.
"I think this was a message that was sent, certainly to me, to our government, from British Columbia that they expect us to do better on a number of key files," he said. He singled out cost-of-living, health care, affordable housing, public safety but also climate change as issues.
He also described the period between election eve and yesterday's announcement of the final vote.
"It involved a lot of time with the refresh button on my browser -- there's no question about it," he said. He ws alluding to waiting for the final results from Surrey-Guildford, which flipped from the Conservatives to the B.C. NDP to give Eby's party a majority.
"It was an anxious time and a time for reflection," he said. "The good news is that I have an amazing family that I got to spend some time with it. So that was one thing that Elections BC delivered for us, a little bit more time with the Eby family.
"It was offset a little bit by the stress of the results, but I'm very appreciative to the residents of Surrey-Guild ford for sending Garry Begg to be a key part of the team."
