In front of a quaint backyard lined with a brown lattice fence on a sunny day, BC NDP leader and Premier David Eby candidly makes bite-sized videos breaking down his campaign for Student Vote ahead of the October 19 provincial election.
It’s a subtle way to bring him back to the youth he said he aims to support. He gets to the point, unwavering, focusing on the camera.
“This is such an important election coming up,” Eby said. “It’s about the future of our province.”
“It’s about your future.”
Eby has been BC’s premier since 2022 and has represented the Vancouver-Point Grey riding, the electoral region that UBC sits in, since 2013.
A lawyer by profession, the roots of his practice stem from Pivot Legal Society where he worked from 2005–08, advocating for affordable housing in the Downtown Eastside. From 2008–12, he served as the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, then as an adjunct professor at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law from 2009–13.
As Dr. Stewart Prest, a UBC political science professor, put it during an interview with The Ubyssey, Eby’s work directly with students and people experiencing precarious living conditions gave him the perspective to act quickly when it came to policy changes that directly benefit the lives of BC’s marginalized populations, such as many UBC students who, as Eby himself phrased it during the Student Vote video, may feel like “a lot of things seem out of reach.”
“That awareness can filter into his governance in a number of ways,” said Prest. “He is in a position to be very in tune with the needs of the campus and the community, given that he resides there and rubs shoulders with people there every day, so he’s going to be more aware of what’s going on.”
“If [parties] see [student] voters who are frustrated ... yet unmobilized, we may see parties making outreaches,” said Prest. “And in this election, that may include both the BC Conservatives and the BC NDP, because we know from polling that younger voters are about equally likely to support both those parties.”
On the federal level, students have historically participated in elections at below-average rates when compared to their older counterparts. The last BC provincial election in 2020 saw people 18–24 — which made up almost 6 per cent of all voters — have an almost 46 per cent voter turnout, a larger turnout than other voters aged 25–34 and 35–44.
“Anytime you have a concentration of students, it can introduce a kind of dynamism,” said Prest. “But it also creates a certain amount of unpredictability in terms of who’s going to actually show up and vote, given that many students will vote in their own home riding, or if they are not eligible to vote in Canada, they may not vote at all.”
According to 2022/23 AMS VP External Erin Co, as an Eby campaign volunteer and AMS advocate, she’s seen Eby “continuing to deliver” for students.
“He took the time, and he always directed his team and his office to follow up with us to make sure we were getting work done,” said Co about her time as VP external.
Eby’s UBC roots put him in an ideal position to bring campus issues to the forefront of provincial politics — so what did having a local MLA running the province do for UBC?
Students wins are wins for everyone
When Eby — who didn’t respond to The Ubyssey’s request for comment by press time — was first campaigning to be BC’s premier in 2022, he told The Ubyssey he’d be “very attuned” to student interests, if elected.
As the MLA for the Vancouver-Point Grey riding, Eby developed a collaborative relationship with the AMS and GSS. He planned to use the knowledge garnered from working with these groups to bring issues of housing, transit, affordability and the climate crisis to the provincial level.
Prest said having the power Eby holds as premier can directly translate into support on these particular issues at a provincial level as a “government ombudsperson.”
“He’s very well positioned to play that role in his constituency office,” Prest said. “But in terms of introducing broader policy, a complication arises given that he is in a cabinet position … He also has to balance the needs of [Vancouver-Point Grey] against the needs of essentially everywhere else in the province.”
But it turns out many of the problems that impact UBC’s students — housing, affordability, sustainability and health care to name a few — are also priorities in other ridings across the province that might not have the same student stronghold.
“Student issues [are] applicable to the rest of the province,” said Co. “If students win, everyone wins, right?”
Reflecting on her experiences lobbying on behalf of the AMS and UBC’s student body at the provincial level, Co recalled lobbying for provincial issues that impacted people outside of UBC’s student body. Costs associated with lobbying tend to give more power to the wealthy in Canada, so student society lobbying is an important step toward platforming unique student perspectives.
“I really like the approach that the AMS took, which was that of a non-partisan approach, which meant that we were able to meet with any level of government and all kinds of different parties,” said Co. “Tuition, affordability, housing and things like that were always top of mind for everyone.”
During 2022’s provincial lobby week, Co, AMS and GSS representatives addressed recommendations surrounding student financial aid, graduate student welfare, accessibility and wellbeing for students with disabilities, international student support and concerns surrounding sexual violence.
And Co recalled the groups’ voices were received with widespread interest — even government representatives whose profiles did not overlap with student relations would hear the AMS out on its recommendations.
But being involved in student politics as an executive or lobbyist is an intricate task. Student society executive terms end within a year, incumbents might not run again and student society priorities shift. Co acknowledged these factors feed into the fact that, though students collectively advocate for a wide range of issues, provincial policy changes are often “a slow moving wheel.” By the time a set of AMS recommendations get in front of MLAs, they have been the result of years of consistent student advocacy.
“The work that we do and any wins that we might get is the work of years of other student advocates before me,” Co said.
Ensuring a transparent and aligned transition between AMS executives is important to guarantee that the consistent concerns are followed up on and that tangible change occurs. Current AMS VP External Ayesha Irfan echoed this sentiment in a written statement to The Ubyssey.
“The biggest challenge the AMS faces when it comes to lobbying is time,” Irfan wrote. “It’s important that when we advocate for students in our positions we build on continuity of previous advocacy efforts and discussions.”
Irfan wrote the AMS’s and provincial government partnership is currently prioritizing student interests surrounding housing, transit expansion, affordability, food security, harm reduction, sexualized and gender-based violence prevention and improvements to grants and loans by frequently meeting with Eby.
“Eby’s emphasis on student advocacy has materialized in several important ways. Both as our MLA and Premier,” Irfan wrote. “He held up to his promise by being approachable and most importantly consistently reachable.”
According to Irfan, while the AMS regularly submits detailed reports and proposals at the provincial level, the provincial government takes student interest into consideration through a lobby week, as well as consultations, budget submissions and townhalls.
“In many instances, these [proposals] have been reviewed and successfully integrated into provincial plans,” Irfan wrote. “We’ve seen considerable alignment between the AMS and the provincial government on key issues.”
Irfan said progress has been made toward implementing the Access for Everyone plan and maintaining the U-Pass program, but there can’t be successes without losses.
Some demands didn’t make it into the most recent provincial budget, such as the expansion of the BC Access Grant, a top priority for the AMS this year and last. For years, the AMS has advocated for a SkyTrain extension to UBC, but Irfan said the AMS is still awaiting “concrete funding or a set timeline for its completion.”
“There is a lot more that needs to be done in regards to housing, affordability, and transit,” she wrote.
It all goes back to housing
“There’s an understanding within the NDP … that many of the problems that we see in the province can trace a significant cause or source to the lack of housing,” said Prest.
“Eby was successful … in addressing the long term shortages in housing in the province, and then attacking that in multiple levels through additional funding and changes to municipal approaches to zoning and a variety of other measures,” Prest said.
As Vancouver-Point Grey’s MLA, a neighbourhood with one of the highest rising housing costs in the province, Eby becoming the NDP housing critic in 2014 was a politically advantageous move.
“Housing for me is very core to who I am,” said Eby in the 2024 Student Vote video. “It’s why I got into politics in the first place, working with people who are homeless or who are at risk of losing their housing.”
On August 20, UBC announced its partnership with the provincial government — under Eby’s leadership — to create more than 1,500 student beds on the Vancouver campus. The project will cost approximately $560 million, with $300 million coming from the provincial government, making this partnership the most significant contribution the provincial government has made to a single building project in the university’s history.
And this win wouldn’t be without students — Irfan said the AMS played a big part in streamlining this project.
“The AMS has been lobbying for more affordable and accessible housing options for UBC students,” wrote Irfan. “Our focus includes pushing for increased funding and faster development of on-campus housing to meet the growing demand.”
“This is the kind of thing where the interests of the community align very well with the interests of the NDP,” Prest said. “[The NDP] can provide support in a province that is in dire need of housing and has a lack of social housing for those of limited means. A provision of student housing on publicly accessible land is one of the fastest ways to address a portion of that need.”
“We need to build a ton of housing in our province, and we are,” Eby continued in the Student Vote video. “Rents are finally starting to come down. We’re going to use public land to build housing that you can afford.”
But this effect doesn’t completely translate to UBC — the university controls its residences’ rental rates as student housing is not governed by BC’s Residential Tenancy Act. Irfan said the AMS advocated for rent control to ensure student housing remains affordable and accessible. Despite AMS affordable housing advocacy, UBC increased student housing rental rates in February.
On harm reduction and community safety
Campus safety is where the AMS’s and the province’s approaches diverge.
Irfan wrote the AMS’s safety strategy is rooted in expanding mental health resources on campus and campaigns geared toward advocating for the prevention of sexualized and gender-based violence through awareness campaigns and educational initiatives.
Where the AMS focuses on promoting safety through inclusivity, Eby’s take on safety both at UBC and around the province focuses on law enforcement. During a 2020 AMS-hosted Vancouver-Point Grey MLA debate, Eby said he “support[s] increased police resources,” according to Ubyssey coverage.
“[Eby’s] support for policing is trying to address that perception that exists in the province … that there is a lack of public order in the streets,” said Prest.
Over the summer, UBC saw increased police presence around campus during the Palestinian solidarity encampment. Both UBC and the RCMP drew criticism from protesters for its handling of the protest, notably how the RCMP’s Critical Response Unit was present during the encampment and related protests. The Critical Response Unit was federally investigated for its heavily-armed raids on the Wet’suwet’en-led blockades and its Fairy Creek operation in 2021.
“I support increased police resources,” Eby said during a 2020 Vancouver-Point Grey debate. At the time, Eby was advocating for a plan to increase police resources to decrease money laundering to combat the toxic drug crisis. BC declared the toxic drug crisis a provincial public health emergency in April 2016.
Eby later pivoted his approach to the toxic drug crisis when BC became the first Canadian jurisdiction to decriminalize possession of small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use. Health Canada issued a three-year exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in an effort to protect people who enagage in substance use from stigma and over-policing.
Decriminalization left police and health care workers unprepared, according to the Tyee and Business in Vancouver reporting. 2023 saw a peak in the number of overdoses from unregulated substances with more than 2,500 deaths.
In April, after the provincial government drew decriminalization criticism from the public, the province announced plans to recriminalize the use of drugs in public places such as hospitals, parks and on transit.
Irfan said the AMS has made progress in mobilizing the distribution of naloxone kits at UBC through the AMS’s Peer Support service and others.
Separate from the AMS, UBC received 500 doses of nasal naloxone from the province’s Post-Secondary Overdose Prevention Steering Committee in September.
The Post-Secondary Overdose Prevention Steering Committee was formed in May and is tasked with reviewing policies and recommending best practices in overdose prevention and response for BC post-secondary institutions.
If elected, the NDP plans to provide involuntary care for people struggling with addiction.
However, Dr. Michael John Milloy, a UBC assistant professor and researcher in social medicine at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, told The Ubyssey in October that isn’t in line with health care practices.
“It’s stupendously clear to me that if you do not have consent from someone, it is not treatment. That is the foundation of our medical system,” said Milloy. “We’re only allowed to treat people who consent to that truth.”
“I’m very concerned about the possibility of negative unintended consequences where people who are involuntarily treated leave and then go back to a toxic drug supply.”
A ‘straightforward choice’
Working with students is a strategic political move — we bring fresh ideas to universal issues as a population that is not traditionally centred in political campaigns or practice or who often feel like our voices are not being heard by people in power. As the election nears, Eby’s acknowledgment of student influence in the provincial polls is evident.
As Eby wrapped up his Student Vote video, he made it clear the BC Conservative Party’s policies oppose his party’s own.
“It’s a pretty straightforward choice in my mind. I hope you feel the same way, and I hope I can count on your support in the election.”
Share this article
First online
Submit a complaint Report a correction
