New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy is looking forward to the “huge challenge” of tackling one of the NDP government’s top three priorities.
When the NDP was sworn in as the new provincial government at Government House in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, Darcy was installed as the province’s new Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. It’s a newly created ministry in NDP Premier John Horgan’s government.
“I am profoundly aware of the huge challenges that go with this portfolio,” she said. “It’s about working with a lot of different partners to save lives on the frontline of the opioid crisis and it’s about building a new ministry so we can have a coherent system of mental health and addiction services so treatment is available for people when they need it.”
Darcy said she is “profoundly aware” of the challenges of building the new ministry, but is “honoured and humbled” to help build a solid, reliable system for mental health and addictions.
“There isn’t anything that touches our families and our communities more deeply than this,” she told the Record. “Every single family is touched by it. Mine certainly has been. I don’t know any families in New Westminster or across the province that aren’t touched by mental illness and addiction.”
According to Darcy, Horgan has made it clear that addressing the opioid crisis and building a solid system of mental health and addictions services is one of the top three priorities of his government.
“People can wait weeks and months and even years to get treatment, and that’s just not acceptable. We also need a really important focus on prevention, ensuring we catch problems early with our young people in schools. One of the things we are committed to is mental health workers in schools to get counselling for our kids before problems become more severe and before mental health issues become substance-abuse issues. It’s about harm reduction, it’s about saving lives in the opioid crisis, ensuring that our frontline health-care staff and first responders have the tools that they need to save lives. But it’s also about building an effective system of prevention and treatment for mental health and addiction services.”
Darcy, who was first elected as MLA in May 2013, was re-elected as New Westminster’s MLA on May 9. She served as the NDP’s health critic.
With the NDP having served in Opposition for the past 16 years, Darcy’s appointment as minister of mental health marks the first time the Royal City has had a place in cabinet since former NDP MLA Graeme Bowbrick served as minister of advanced education and attorney general in 2000/2001. Previously, MLA Anita Hagen served as deputy premier and education minister when the NDP formed government in 1991.
“I am really, really excited that New Westminster has someone at the cabinet table for the first time in many, many years,” Darcy said. “I am very proud to represent New Westminster in the legislature and I am also very proud to also be a voice for our community in the cabinet.”
The NDP was able to form a minority government by striking an agreement with the Green Party of B.C., with the two parties agreeing to work together to advance several legislative and policy issues. Some political pundits have questioned how long the agreement can last.
“We think this can last a very long time. We share very similar values and priorities, the New Democrats and the Greens, which is reflected in the agreement that we signed,” Darcy said. “We very much want to make it work and we hope there are Liberals who want to make it work as well. There may be disagreements along the way, but fundamentally the agreement that all 44 NDP and Green MLAs signed together is really about what our priorities are for the next four years.”
Proportional representation, which often results in minority governments, is something that both the NDP and Greens support, Darcy said.
“We have an opportunity to show that it can work, and we are very committed to doing that,” she said.
Fast facts on B.C.’s new government
* Twenty ministers and two ministers of state – 11 men and 11 women.
* Six MLAs have been named as parliamentary secretaries.
* First cabinet in B.C. history to achieve gender parity, with 10 women named to cabinet and one named minister of state.
* Four ministers and two parliamentary secretaries aged 40 and under.
* Ten ministers and parliamentary secretaries who identify as a visible minority.
* The first First Nations woman appointed to cabinet.
