The BC Conservatives are criticizing Premier David Eby’s NDP government for allegedly intimidating a whistleblower who revealed that diverted drugs from the so-called “safe supply” program were being sold on the black market.
In February, BC Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko made public a leaked Ministry of Health document revealing that government-prescribed opioids were being trafficked and that 60 pharmacies were under investigation. Concerns arose regarding the potential dangers of British Columbia’s safe supply drug policies after the document’s release, leading to widespread debate.
Sturko later took to social media, calling for immediate action.
“Under pressure from Conservatives, David Eby admitted that his police service director violated the NDP whistleblower protection law… and that I should never have been called for doing my job,” she wrote.
“David Eby must: End the witch hunt for the brave whistleblower, fire his rogue police service director & move his incompetent Public Safety Minister out of the portfolio, launch a public inquiry into his own government & bureaucrats whose bad ‘safe supply’ policy and dangerous ideology caused the harm to start with.”
Following the leak, Sturko was contacted by the RCMP’s anti-corruption unit. The move drew swift backlash.
“If they’re willing to send the police to try to find a whistleblower, what are they going to do if this is a healthcare employee or any other member of the community?” Sturko said Wednesday. She has repeatedly refused to identify her source, stating only that it was not a police officer.
The police probe was initiated after B.C.’s Director of Police Services Glen Lewis referred the matter to the RCMP for a Police Act investigation.
Public Safety Minister Garry Begg initially defended the move, saying, “I think that the director of investigations is fully within his role to act as he did.”
But Premier David Eby contradicted his minister on Wednesday, stating plainly that the investigation “never should have happened.”
“She shouldn’t get a phone call from the police for doing her job,” Eby said. “She was sent here by British Columbians to do a specific job and that she was doing.”
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad said the government had violated its own whistleblower protection law. “The premier confirmed today that his police service director violated the NDP whistleblower protection law by referring this case to an investigative branch,” he said.
In a follow-up statement, Begg walked back his earlier comments: “I’ve now had the opportunity to speak to the Premier. We’ve discussed the issue, and I’d like my position to be clear. What I approve of is an independent process… We support whistleblowers and whistleblower protections.”
The RCMP clarified that the elected official “is not now, nor was, under investigation” and that the probe focused solely on potential misconduct by law enforcement under the BC Police Act.
Despite the situation, Sturko made clear that she would not reveal her whistleblower who assisted in bringing information to light, which eventually caused the reeling back of the drug handout program.