Premier David Eby answered questions from Mission, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge residents on Monday (April 8) during a “telephone townhall”.
The event was hosted by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis and Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Bob D’Eith. For roughly an hour, Eby addressed topics ranging from affordable housing to illegal dumping to health care to crime.
“We’re going to continue to have your back on issues like health care, building new schools that the community needs, ensuring that housing is there for you — not for speculators to use as an investment — and providing relief on those costs of daily life wherever we can,” Eby said.
The premier spoke about the province’s approach to housing, including taxes on vacant second homes or speculative property not rented out, an Airbnb crackdown, and changes to housing policies involving redtape.
“We are accelerating this work as quickly as we can to respond to the massive population growth that we see … we need more housing now and we’re gonna make it more affordable,” Eby said.
The rejected application for a near-complete Mission development on 2nd Avenue intended for affordable housing wasn’t addressed by the premier, Alexis or D’Eith and no questions were asked by the public about the subject.
READ MORE: Near-complete affordable housing development in Mission rejected by province
Meanwhile, a woman living in the Hatzic Valley asked the premier about increased illegal dumping activity in the region.
“The issue of illegal dumping of soil on [Agricultural Land Reserve] land was a serious issue. We brought in additional penalties and rules restricting the activity, recognizing farmers gotta move dirt around, but recognizing that we don’t want our farmland to be just a dump for fill from various construction sites in the Lower Mainland, including fill that can be contaminated,” Eby said.
READ MORE: ‘It’s a business decision’: Illegal dumping on the rise near Mission
A Mission woman also asked a question about how the province intends to improve Mission Memorial Hospital as the city experiences growth.
Eby pointed out the new CT Scanner and said the burst pipe in January will lead to improvements for how the hospital works.
“We have 15 hospitals across the province, including the Fraser Valley that we’re either expanding or building new and we know we got more work to do on this,” he said.
READ MORE: Mission Memorial Hospital opens temporary emergency department after flood
Multiple questions were asked about increased crime and drug use in public spaces.
“Just because we have compassion about the issue of addiction, just because we understand that you’re struggling with addiction, doesn’t mean anything goes … smoking drugs in a hospital, smoking drugs at Tim Hortons, smoking drugs in a Walmart is illegal in British Columbia and police can act on that,” Eby said.
The premier also addressed questions surrounding increased gas prices, the carbon tax and highways.
READ MORE: ‘We simply cannot save every single project’: Kahlon on rejected affordable housing in Mission