BC Conservatives question $1M contract for B.C. drug and mental illness adviser

The BC Conservative opposition is raising concerns about the contract the NDP government has awarded to its top adviser on mental health and the drug crisis.

It has been one year since the B.C. government appointed Dr. Daniel Vigo as its chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders.

Vigo has been responsible for developing solutions for people suffering from mental health, addictions and brain injuries due to toxic drugs.

According to his contract, Vigo is eligible to receive $250,000 each quarter he works, up to $1 million for the year. In addition, he is eligible to receive 12 per cent of his salary as administrative fees or expenses.

“It was very clear during the election that involuntary care was one of the pieces that was needed in this system. I think the government was already aware of that, and I think that because they knew they were facing some pushback from some of their more ideological supporters, they decided to spend a million dollars hiring a doctor as a consultant to tell us what we already knew so that they could fall back on, ‘Well, this is the science behind it,’” said Claire Rattée, BC Conservative MLA for Skeena.

“At the end of the day, it’s a million dollars that could have been spent on treatment.”

Rattée added she was concerned about a “lack of deliverables” in the contract.

She said that according to the document, Vigo should have already submitted three quarterly reports, none of which have been made public.

“We’re talking about a government that has spent well over $1 billion on addictions and the overdose emergency that we have here, but where are the measurable outcomes? What are the outcomes of any of the things that they have done?” added BC Conservative public safety critic Elenore Sturko.

“We have seen some announcements, we’ve seen some piecemeal work, even the stuff that’s been announced by Dr. Vigo over the last couple of months here — It looks like something is happening, but what’s the outcome and where have we gone and what should British Columbians expect from this huge expenditure?”

B.C.’s health minister says the BC Conservatives aren’t telling the whole story.

The $1 million is earmarked for Vigo to build out a team of four people and to cover the cost of data collection and legal advice, Health Minister Josie Osborne told Global News.

She said Vigo was retained because the toxic drug crisis and the intersection of addicitons medicine and psychiatry are evolving quickly, and the province wants to be on the cutting edge.

“This is a fresh, innovative look using the professional experience that they have to help us identify the people who need help the most to help us identify the solutions,” Osborne said.

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“It is a very challenging situation to see people that are suffering, to see and know that people need treatment and care and that we need the very best clinical expertise, the very medical advice that we can and the appropriate settings and care and therapies for these people — we don’t have experts in that inside the ministry.”

In his year on the job, Vigo has provided significant advice to the province, including a determination that the B.C. Mental Health Act does not need to be amended to allow for involuntary treatment.

He led the development of new guidance to B.C. doctors, laying out the scenarios under which someone can be treated involuntarily under the Mental Health Act, all of them involving mental impairment.

And he has been involved in the rollout of B.C.’s first two involuntary treatment facilities, one in the South Fraser Pretrial Centre and one in the Alouette Homes in Maple Ridge for people who aren’t in contact with the justice system.

He has also been made available to media to answer questions about the province’s involuntary treatment policy.

Rattée said the progress for the price tag simply isn’t good value.

“So far, they’ve only moved on. You know, 18 beds at Alouette, I believe it is, and 10 at Surrey pre-trial, and nothing to do with voluntary treatment services,” she said.

“This is a drop in the bucket when it comes to actually addressing the issue that we are facing right now.”

Last month, the province terminated the contract of another adviser halfway through the planned six-month term.

Michael Bryant had been hired on a $150,000 contract to consult on the province’s policies and service delivery in the Downtown Eastside.

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