Focus on tariffs squeezes crime and public safety to side note in B.C. budget

Crime and public safety took centre stage in B.C.’s 2024 provincial election campaign, but have been relegated to a side note in the province’s tariff-focused 2025 budget.

The B.C. NDP’s new fiscal plan includes just $325 million in new spending over three years focused on public safety measures and is virtually silent on the hot-button issue of involuntary treatment.

Included in the new spending is $30 million a year for BC Housing’s Homeless Encampment Action Response Team (HEART) and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) programs.

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The initiatives will go toward expanding wrap-around services and connecting people experiencing homelessness with temporary supportive housing or shelter beds.

Another $235 million is being allocated over three years for police and justice initiatives.

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Of that, $67 million is being earmarked for programs targeting chronic offenders, including the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative and the Special Investigation and Targeted Enforcement Program launched in 2023.

The province is also launching a new pilot project dubbed the Community Safety and Targeted Enforcement Program aimed at targeting robbery, shoplifting, theft and property damage.

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The Justice Institute of BC is also receiving a funding boost to increase its annual capacity for police recruits by 50 per cent from 192 to 288 per year.

And the province is funding $35 million per year for police body-worn cameras.

While the budget states the province will “continue to work to support people with concurrent mental-health and addiction challenges, including secure and dignified care for people under the Mental Health Act, as well as secure treatment within the BC Corrections system,” it does not include specific new funding commitments to expand involuntary treatment.

During the 2024 provincial election campaign, Premier David Eby pledged to expand the use of involuntary treatment for people with severe brain injuries, addictions and mental health issues.

The province has said it will have two such facilities open by this spring.