Housing dominates Eby meeting with Trudeau ahead of B.C. announcement

B.C. Premier David Eby and a contingent of six provincial cabinet ministers were in Ottawa Monday meeting with their federal counterparts, including Prime Minister Trudeau.

It was the third time Eby has met with Trudeau since becoming premier – and this time, housing was front and centre.

Eby and Trudeau had a photo op Monday morning, and the housing crisis came up almost immediately.

The premier said he'll be pushing Ottawa to use federal land to add to the housing supply.

It’s something he first brought up back in February – the idea of building more homes on parks and military bases.

Another area the premier wants to see changes is better sharing of security intelligence with provinces. He told CTV News he only learned one hour before the public did about the prime minister's allegation that India may have been involved in the murder of Surrey Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“There’s a critical need for provinces to be brought into the loop at an earlier stage,” said Eby Monday. “CSIS, for example, by law is required to only share their intelligence with the federal government, It means that when they brief me – which they did that day – they can share basically what’s in the public domain already, which is not helpful. I can read the newspaper, too.”

Other issues expected to be front and centre in the two-day visit are clean energy and securing federal support for emergency responses to disasters, such as wildfires and flooding.

The contingent of ministers with the premier – including Attorney General Niki Sharma – will be pressing the senate to green light the bail reform that was passed last week by the House of Commons

Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Rob Fleming is also on the trip, and is expected to lobby for federal funding for projects, including the Massey Tunnel replacement.

And British Columbians will get some concrete news on the housing front Tuesday afternoon. That’s when Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon – who will be back in B.C. from the Ottawa trip – will make an announcement in Saanich setting out the specific housing targets for 10 communities across the province, including Vancouver, Victoria, Saanich and Kamloops.

If those targets aren't met, the province can overrule decisions by municipalities on things like zoning to ensure more housing gets created.