The B.C. government has cut its contract with a special consultant on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside short amid backlash over the appointment.
As Global News first reported last week, the province hired former Ontario cabinet minister Michael Bryant on a six-month contract to review ongoing programs in the troubled neighbourhood and to advise on future policy.
Bryant began the work in February, but the appointment wasn’t publicly announced and drew backlash, including from the Opposition BC Conservatives.
On Tuesday, the Premier’s Office issued a statement saying Bryant’s “work under government’s contract with his consulting company concluded” on Sunday and that “debate and discussion around this time-limited contract is distracting from the important work underway.”
Speaking to media on Tuesday, Eby thanked Bryant for his work.
“I’m very appreciative to Mr. Bryant for his work, for his efforts on the part of government,” he said.
“I have to say though that public debate and discussion about the contract with Mr. Bryant became the focus, Mr Bryant became the focus, through no fault of his own, and not the Downtown eastside, and how we are improving life for people in the Downtown Eastside, particularly now went he distress is frankly at a level that is not tolerable for the people who live down there and the people of British Columbia.”
The terms of Bryant’s six-month contract included $150,000 in remuneration, along with $25,000 in expenses. It also included language that could see the pay doubled to $300,000 if his contract were extended.
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Under the agreement, he was to provide monthly updates and reports to Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Sheila Malcolmson, along with a final report.
Eby said Bryant would not receive severance, but would be paid for work up to his last day — approximately $75,000.
He also denied that Bryant’s appointment was being hidden.
“You are wrong, it certainly wasn’t hidden, Mr. Bryant was quite open in his meetings in the Downtown Eastside — there was definitely an issue in our communications shop not getting that communications bulletin out,” Eby said.
“It wasn’t his job to be the spokesperson for government on the Downtown Eastside. His job was to be a fact finder for government, taking his background in law, his background in recovery, his background in politics and say what is the world of the possible, what are the opportunities for us to make a meaningful difference.”
Eby maintained that Bryant had met with many DTES residents and stakeholders, and that despite not completing a final report he had made “important recommendations we will look at developing in the future.”
Last week, Eby confirmed he had put Bryant’s name forward for the Downtown Eastside consultancy.
The Opposition has raised concerns about the terms of the contract, along with questions about why Bryant left his last job as the CEO of Legal Aid BC.
“It is understood the Premier was consulted during Bryant’s appointment to Legal Aid BC, which he left abruptly in 2024 for reasons still not disclosed to the public. Then the Premier directed a new ministry to hire him again, this time, with no public transparency or accountability,” BC Conservative MLA Trevor Halford said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The contract may be gone, but the questions aren’t.”
Eby would not comment on Bryant’s exit from the Crown corporation, but lauded the work Bryant had done reorganizing Legal Aid after the NDP came to power.
“It was his willingness to stand up to established interests in that job that made me think he would be a good person to critically look at what was happening in the Downtown Eastside,” he said.
In 2009, Bryant was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death after an incident that left Toronto bike courier Darcy Sheppard with a fatal head injury, but was never prosecuted after the charges were controversially withdrawn.
He later wrote a book about the experience and his own battle with alcoholism.
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