The premier and his ministers are on a repeating loop in reacting to failures

When a video of open drug use inside a Tim Hortons in Maple Ridge surfaced last week, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth responded with a show of indignation. “It’s just disgusting,” he told Global B.C. news on Friday.

“People should not have to put up with that. Drug use should not, under any circumstances, be taking place indoors in a restaurant.”

Farnworth cited the spectacle as one more reason why the New Democrats have been trying to restrict the open use of hard drugs, same as the province already does with alcohol and tobacco.

Alas for him, last week brought another setback for the government.

The New Democrats passed the enabling legislation last fall for a crackdown on open drug use near playgrounds, bus stops and other public spaces.

B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson issued a temporary injunction against the legislation at the end of last year, in a decision that effectively sided with advocates of open drug use.

The New Democrats tried and failed to get the injunction lifted. Then, as it was about to expire last week, the court extended it to June 30.

Farnworth expressed disappointment at the extension, saying it was “absolutely frustrating. It is unbelievable that we can’t regulate where hard drugs are used – that’s just nuts in my view.”

Lawyer Caitlin Shane for the Harm Reduction Nurses Association, which secured the initial injunction, said the extension was by mutual consent of the parties, including the government.

The public probably does agree with Farnworth that the court’s reasoning is “nuts.”

But Premier David Eby’s office is top heavy with a half dozen or so lawyers, including him and the head of the public service – never mind all the other lawyers on staff in the Ministry of Attorney-General.

Yet, despite months of preparation, all those lawyers were unable to deliver a piece of legislation and defend it against attack by an activist group with none of the legal resources of the government.

Farnworth had to fall back on his rhetorical skills again following a shooting in downtown Vancouver Saturday afternoon, which scattered pedestrians.

“It’s absolutely outrageous,” he declared. “These individuals have no regard for anybody.”

After almost seven years as minister of public safety and solicitor general, does top cop Farnworth have anything more formidable in his arsenal than an ability to fulminate on cue?

Another cabinet minister who appeared to be thumbing through the thesaurus for an appropriate response last week was Health Minister Adrian Dix.

He was in Prince Rupert to address the several closures of the ER at the local hospital – eight in all for the month of March.

“You have to be open 24/7,” Dix conceded. “It is a matter of confidence for the community. People say they are afraid here to get sick, well, we hear that. I am frustrated, too.”

Hear that, you folks afraid to get sick or left waiting outside a shuttered ER? The health minister shares your frustration.

Dix, like Farnworth, has been on the job since July 2017. He’s presided over a massive increase in health-care spending. Lately, he’s taken to boasting that 45,000 more people are working in health care than when he took office.

The legions of British Columbians on waiting lists, still needing a family doctor, or hoping the ER is open tonight must be wondering where the heck are all those thousands of health-care workers.

The premier has lately been toying with variations on “I feel your pain” in responding to horror stories from the health-care sector.

When asked about the fellow who suffered a stroke inside the Massey Tunnel and was left stranded by the roadside waiting for an ambulance that never came, Eby said “it is everyone’s worst nightmare when that happens. It’s not acceptable to anybody and certainly not to our government.”

After a while, it is as if the premier and his ministers are on a repeating loop in responding to the latest failings and horror stories.

This one is “disappointing.” That one “frustrating.” Over here, “outrageous.” Over there, the ever-serviceable “unacceptable.”

The one thing you don’t hear is an acknowledgment that the New Democrats have been on the job and responsible for public safety and access to health care for going on seven years.

And despite Eby’s promise of results before the election, what they’ve mainly got to show of late is excuses.