Premier David Eby questions need for Vancouver's public safety plebiscite | Daily Hive

Premier David Eby (left) and B.C. Minister of Health Ravi Kahlon (right) during the press conference on Aug. 14, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

Premier David Eby says his BC NDP-led provincial government already supports creating involuntary care capacity in Vancouver and has been searching for a suitable site, questioning the need for the City of Vancouver to hold a plebiscite on an idea he says has broad agreement.

Eby made the comments during an unrelated provincial cabinet press conference on Friday morning, just moments after Vancouver City Council concluded its special meeting, where Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver majority formally approved adding two public safety plebiscite questions — focused on the city’s addictions and mental health crisis and related public disorder — to the Oct. 17, 2026 civic election.

One of the two public safety plebiscite questions will ask voters whether Vancouver’s municipal government should formally call on the provincial government to convert portions of the old St. Paul’s Hospital — or another similar site — into a secure medical facility providing voluntary care and at least 100 involuntary care beds for people posing a serious risk to themselves or others because of severe addictions and mental health issues.

The proposal envisions this as an interim use of the existing Burrard Street hospital campus after Providence Health Care vacates the site for the new St. Paul’s Hospital campus in the False Creek Flats, and before local developer and property owner Concord Pacific is ready to proceed with a major high-density, mixed-use redevelopment of the Burrard Street campus, which could be a decade away.

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Asked whether the provincial government would consider Mayor Sim’s old St. Paul’s Hospital proposal if Vancouver voters support it, Eby said he was surprised the City was putting the matter to a public vote because the provincial government already agrees that Vancouver needs such a facility.

“I was, you know, I’ll admit a little surprised to see the proposal for a vote question on which I suspect there would be 100 per cent support, including from our government,” said Eby.

“The mayor knows we’ve been looking for a site in Vancouver for this kind of care. We know that Vancouver requires it, especially with the intense epicentre of the Downtown Eastside.”

The comments mark a notable response to Mayor Sim and ABC’s repeated criticism that the provincial government has announced new involuntary care capacity elsewhere in B.C. while failing to create new beds within Vancouver, despite the city experiencing the country’s most visible and severe impacts of the addictions and mental health crisis.

Eby indicated the disagreement is less about whether additional care is required and more about the City’s decision to put the question on the election ballot.

“Certainly, I guess, if he wants to go out and ask Vancouverites if they’re supportive of something that we know they support and that our government supports, that’s his prerogative,” added the premier.

Newly appointed B.C. Minister of Health Ravi Kahlon similarly said the provincial government supports creating this type of care in Vancouver and wants to work with the municipal government to make it happen.

“I’ll just say that I’ve had a good working relationship with the Mayor and Council in Vancouver. And as the Premier’s highlighted, we support the idea. We believe that we need this type of services in the community,” said Kahlon.

But Kahlon also questioned whether a plebiscite is necessary when both levels of government already agree on the broad objective.

“I was surprised to see that there’s a plebiscite for something that is so unanimously agreed upon,” he said. “And I think there are some probably tough questions that can be asked.”

“And so if they do want to do a plebiscite, perhaps they should ask questions that are probably more meaningful and will actually help improve the lives of people in Vancouver. But on this question, there’s no question. We can work together and get the outcomes that we both want.”

Eby also pointed to the broader work being led by Larry Campbell — a former Vancouver mayor, former longtime senator, and former B.C. chief coroner — who was appointed by the provincial government in September 2025 to recommend a new approach to the Downtown Eastside across different levels of government.

Campbell’s mandate spans housing, healthcare, public spaces, social supports, and other longstanding challenges in the Downtown Eastside, with his work expected to produce recommendations on how all levels of government, along with governmental and non-profit service providers, could achieve better results.

Campbell’s initial six-month-long appointment was subsequently extended in April 2026, giving him an additional six months to perform his work. Earlier this year, Campbell indicated that his findings and recommendations could ultimately be summarized in a formal report, while emphasizing that his priority was seeing governments actually act on them.

“It’s something that Senator Campbell has been engaging the City on and with our support,” said Eby.

“The City has been engaged on our response to the challenges in the Downtown Eastside that Senator Campbell is leading, including on the issue of involuntary care. He’s pushing on an open door. And so, I invite him to walk through with us.”

During ABC’s press conference on Thursday to announce their plans for a plebiscite, Sim said that if the provincial government cannot find the trained healthcare workers necessary to create additional involuntary care beds more quickly, the premier should “find another job.”

Eby largely brushed off the attack as election season politics.

“Well, you know, it’s municipal election season. I understand. Candidates are out there,” said the premier today.

Sim and other ABC elected officials have presented a markedly different account of the City-Province relationship on the issue in recent days, weeks, and months, arguing that Vancouver’s municipal government has repeatedly raised the need for more treatment and involuntary care capacity but has seen little meaningful action in response.

Sim has said the City has spent roughly two years making both public and private appeals to the provincial government for new involuntary care beds in Vancouver, without a single new bed being announced within the city. ABC has contrasted that with recent provincial announcements of new involuntary care facilities in Surrey and elsewhere in B.C., despite Vancouver experiencing what Sim describes as the most acute concentration of the addictions, mental health, and public disorder crisis.

The mayor has intensified that pressure over the past month, publicly addressing Premier Eby and provincial cabinet ministers twice, including an Aug. 6 letter calling for at least 100 new involuntary care beds in Vancouver as quickly as possible. ABC has also pointed to Vancouver Coastal Health’s proposed overdose prevention site (OPS) at 900 Helmcken St. — located right next to Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel and near the Granville Entertainment District — as evidence that the provincial government has been prepared to expand harm reduction services in Vancouver while, in the party’s view, moving far more slowly on voluntary and involuntary treatment.

The planned OPS next to B.C.’s largest hotel was first announced in early May 2026, and at the time it was initially expected to open as early as just before or during the FIFA World Cup. Following an initial public backlash, the provincial government and VCH put the opening on “pause.” However, some nearby businesses and residents remain concerned that the OPS could still open at this location after the civic election, depending on the outcome.

Sim and ABC have taken issue with what they see as the BC NDP’s continued emphasis on harm reduction, OPS facilities, problematic SROs on the Granville Entertainment District, and other policies that, in their view, have failed to resolve the crisis and may instead be prolonging it. The provincial government also reversed course on its three-year decriminalization pilot in January 2026, with provincial officials acknowledging that it had not produced the results they had hoped for. City officials and other critics, meanwhile, have argued that decriminalization had a profoundly negative impact.

Sim and ABC argue the result is continued suffering among people living with severe addiction and mental illness, while residents and businesses are left dealing with the effects of ongoing public disorder. Sim also says Vancouver’s municipal government is spending more than $100 million in additional operating costs each year — including policing, fire and rescue services, park maintenance, bylaw enforcement, and other municipal services — to respond to public disorder associated with homelessness, addictions, mental health issues, and other provincial policies that ABC argues have been contributing to the crisis.

From ABC’s perspective, that history is precisely why a plebiscite is necessary. Sim has argued that a strong “Yes” vote would give the next makeup of City Council a direct democratic mandate to intensify pressure on the province after years of advocacy that, in his view, have failed to produce the scale or urgency of response Vancouver requires.

Mayor Ken Sim during ABC’s press conference on Aug. 13, 2026, announcing the public safety plebiscite during the October 2026 civic election. (Kenneth Chan)

ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung believes the current approach is failing to move enough people toward recovery and that a strong plebiscite result would strengthen the City’s ability to demand a different approach from the province.

“It will send a resounding, clear, unequivocal signal of the scale and sentiment of the residents of Vancouver in terms of how they feel about this issue,” said Kirby Yung during today’s City Council meeting.

“We have advocated continuously over several years to no avail, and have not seen the action to address this crisis, and things are continuing to get worse… The public appetite is clearly saying, let’s not just get into crisis intervention and sustain people, let’s actually get them to a better and a healthier place. And we have some individuals that are in such dire need that it is shockingly sad to leave them in that situation.”

Former Vancouver city councillor George Affleck endorsed ABC’s plebiscite plan, arguing that the longstanding approach of municipal elected officials passing member motions and sending formal letters to the provincial and federal governments has failed to produce sufficient action.

He suggested that putting the issue directly to voters could carry considerably more political weight by demonstrating where a majority of Vancouverites stand.

“Local politicians are always sending ‘strongly worded letters’ to other levels of government. Pure politics. But if the majority of Vancouver voters say enough is enough in a plebiscite, then there’s some weight behind those words,” wrote Affleck on X today.

“Time to be clear about what we support or don’t support in Vancouver on this crucial political and healthcare issue.”

Sim also asserts that the plebiscite — including the question on restricting the use of hard drugs in public spaces — will give many voters an opportunity to express views they may otherwise be reluctant to share publicly out of fear of criticism or intimidation.

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