Conservative MLA Trevor Halford: Michael Bryant’s Secretive $325,000 DTES Deal Is a Slap in the Face to British Columbians

Michael Bryant

Surrey–White Rock MLA Trevor Halford is demanding answers from the Premier and the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction after the Official Opposition obtained Michael Bryant’s full Downtown Eastside contract (attached), revealing a deal worth up to $325,000, significantly more than what was publicly disclosed last week.

“This contract reads like a political favour, not a public service,” said Halford. “And we know it came straight through the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the same ministry responsible for supporting the most vulnerable people in the Downtown Eastside.”

The contract grants:

• Up to $300,000 in compensation
• A $25,000 expense account
• Taxpayer-covered travel for any trips outside a 32-kilometre radius from Vancouver

It instructs Bryant to develop a “framework” for coordinating services in the DTES, but explicitly acknowledges the plan may not succeed. To date, no public reporting benchmarks have been disclosed or met.

“This government is handing a quarter-million-dollar cheque to one of the Premier’s friends for a plan it openly admits might not work,” said Halford. “There are no public deliverables, no transparency, and no justification for why this appointment wasn’t disclosed.”

Bryant’s previous role as CEO of Legal Aid BC ended abruptly in 2024. To date, neither the Premier, the Attorney General, nor Bryant himself have addressed the concerns surrounding his sudden departure. It is understood that Premier Eby was consulted by the Legal Aid BC board during Bryant’s appointment process, a role Bryant later left without any public explanation. He was then brought into a new, taxpayer-funded role at the direction of the Premier, through the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.

Now, that same individual has been tasked with overseeing services that directly impact Indigenous residents, vulnerable women, and survivors of trauma.

“To make it worse, he’s working out of the Overdose Prevention Society, one of the very nonprofits he may be evaluating,” said Halford. “This is a textbook conflict of interest, and the Premier is pretending it doesn’t exist.”

“David Eby says the Downtown Eastside is the reason he got into politics,” Halford added. “If that’s true, this contract is more than just a failure of judgment, it’s a betrayal of his own legacy.”