B.C. Premier David Eby says he wants to be able to bring in more immigrants from the United States to help bolster the local economy.
He also revealed he will be meeting with Mark Carney in person next week, denounced the idea that western separatism could be an outcome of the current federal election campaign and called out a B.C. Conservative MLA accused of posting a graphic suggesting Western Canada could become a “protectorate” of the United States.
“We’re not Guam,” Eby said, referring to the U.S. island territory. “We are a proud, amazing province. We are a proud, amazing country.”
Eby made the comments while speaking to reporters Thursday, responding to yesterday’s tariff announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump, which largely spared Canada.
B.C. Premier David Eby on Thursday criticized a recent op-ed by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning in which he argued a vote for Mark Carney’s Liberals is a vote for Western secession. ‘We need to stick together to be successful as Canadians,’ Eby told reporters at a news conference in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs.
Premier responds to credit downgrade
The premier was asked a question about S&P and Moody’s downgrading British Columbia’s credit rating on April 2, citing the province’s ballooning deficit.
Eby placed some of the blame on the chaotic economic situation brought on by Trump, and also said the province’s fiscal growth is being hampered by cuts to the provincial nominee program, which allows provinces and territories to nominate individuals with specific skills, education, and work experience to be offered a path to permanent residency.
In January, the federal government cut B.C.’s program by about half as part of a broader effort to stabilize population growth amidst a housing crisis.
Eby said this cut comes at a time when American entrepreneurs, medical professionals, researchers and workers are expressing higher levels of interest in coming to Canada, and he would welcome their contributions to British Columbia.
Earlier this week, a physician recruiter told CBC News that since Trump’s election there has been a “floodgate” of medical professionals enquiring about relocating to Canada.
Other immigration agencies have reported similar upticks in interest from people living in the United States.
“They have skills that we desperately need [and] we’re unable to offer them a space,” he said.
Eby also acknowledged that the downgrade was primarily based on the province’s ballooning deficit, saying his government “has committed to protect front-line services” while reviewing administrative spending in an effort to “return to a balanced budget.”
David Eby talks to the media a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs affecting countries around the world.
S&P Global Ratings is cutting the province’s long-term issuer credit rating to A+ from AA, while Moody’s Ratings downgraded its baseline assessment to AA2 from AA1.
In a news release, Moody’s said the downgrade reflected “a structural deterioration in British Columbia’s credit profile” and it predicted this year’s deficit would soar to $14.3 billion.
That number is more than 31 per cent higher than the forecast in the province’s budget last month and 57 per cent higher than the most recent estimate of last year’s deficit.
Meanwhile, S&P cited a “fiscal mismatch” in the government’s operations, blaming its fourth downgrade in four years on “considerable” deficits and debt accumulation continuing through to 2028.
A lower credit rating can make it harder for a government to secure loans and attract investment and force it to offer higher rates on its bonds.
Premier meeting with Carney next week
Eby told reporters he is speaking to Mark Carney when he comes to British Columbia next week, and had earlier congratulated him on apparently changing the tone coming out of the White House when it comes to Canada.
He said he hopes the apparent shift means “some stability and ultimately grounds to sit down like adults and come to an agreement about how our two countries can come together.”
Trump announced sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on dozens of countries. Who has — and hasn’t — been hit? Then, Trump says Canada has been ripping off the United States, imposing steep tariffs on imported American dairy products. Is he right?
However, he cautioned that all of that could be upended at anytime based on Trump’s mood, and said that a post to Truth Social could completely change the equation.
Of particular concern to the premier is the continued imposition of duties on softwood lumber exports sent to the United States, used in the construction industry.
Concerns over forestry future
Eby said he would be in Prince George on Friday for the B.C. Council of Forest Industries conference, where Canada-U.S. relations will dominate the discussions.
He said he wants to put the softwood lumber dispute on the national agenda, noting that Trump has launched a national security investigation into Canada’s timber practices, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick repeating that the sector is a key area of “concern” and raising anxiety about the industry’s future.
B.C.’s forest industry is already in serious trouble, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war is pushing it closer to the brink of collapse. CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe breaks down what’s at stake for lumber producers and how they’re looking to adapt.
“It’s important for the prime minister to understand the unique impacts of the president’s actions on British Columbia,” Eby said. “The risk always with prime ministers and with federal parties is they get trapped in Ontario … they are in Ottawa. They’re beside Quebec, literally just over a bridge, and they forget about the West.
“So, my message to the prime minister will be that you have to be on top of issues in Western Canada and in British Columbia. Your response, whether they support workers or industries or whatever it is, needs to include British Columbia.”
Premier ‘deeply disappointed’ in Preston Manning’s call for western separation
The premier was also asked about a recent op-ed written by Preston Manning, the former leader of the now-defunct Reform Party, which took on the role of official opposition federally in the 1990s before merging into the modern-day Conservatives.
In the piece, published in the Globe and Mail, Manning argued that Carney is a threat to national unity and said Western Canadians “simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government,” and that that sentiment extends into British Columbia.
Eby disagreed, saying he’d never seen patriotism at the level it is right now.
“To have an op-ed at this moment that the path forward is to break up the country is bizarre,” Eby said.
“I hope that Mr. Manning reconsiders his reintroduction into Canadian life with this particular proposal … I just can’t fathom that mindset.”
