B.C. Premier sees room for bigger role in Ottawa despite federal NDP election losses

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British Columbia’s NDP Premier, David Eby, sees opportunity in the New Democrats’ federal electoral losses.

He expresses regret that his federal political “cousins” lost 10 of their 13 seats in B.C. in last Monday’s election, including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s riding.

But B.C. voters sent more members of the governing Liberal party back to Ottawa than in the previous election, and Mr. Eby hopes that will translate into greater influence for his long-running campaign to renegotiate the province‘s status in Confederation.

Since last summer, when Mr. Eby launched his bid for a better deal for B.C., he has drawn little sympathy from the federal Liberals. But Liberal Leader Mark Carney now has a mandate as Prime Minister, and Mr. Eby is treating this as a fresh start.

B.C.’s shopping list, delivered Thursday in a letter to Mr. Carney, starts with infrastructure, which is framed as a companion piece to the Liberals’ election promise to improve the east-west transportation corridor for goods.

“As Canada’s gateway to Asia-Pacific, strengthening B.C.’s supply chain infrastructure – and Canada’s energy and food security – should be a national priority,“ Mr. Eby wrote in his formal letter of congratulations to Mr. Carney.

In order to ”streamline" rail and road trade corridors and the movement of goods through B.C.’s key ports to help move Canadian products to new, non-U.S. markets, Mr. Eby wants Ottawa to pay a greater share of upgrades such as the multibillion-dollar replacement of the aging Massey tunnel that presents a choke point on Highway 99. (The province has long asked for a federal contribution on the Massey project but previously rejected Ottawa’s offer as too little.)

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Mr. Eby has complained in the past that his province has not had equivalent investments or considerations as Ottawa’s support for electric vehicle battery plants in Ontario or immigration supports in Quebec. Now, he is emphasizing his government’s shared goals to fast-track the development of critical minerals that Mr. Carney says will “kick-start the clean energy supply chain.”

B.C. has 17 critical minerals mines in the proposal phase, and Mr. Eby is inviting Ottawa to help pay for a new hydro power transmission line to unlock the development of mines in B.C.’s northwest, a costly line his government has already promised to build.

Mr. Eby’s approach is decidedly more positive than that of neighbouring Alberta, where Premier Danielle Smith responded to the election results with hostility: “A large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.”

The election campaign was dominated by the challenge Canada faces from its southern neighbour: U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening punitive tariffs and wants to annex Canada. While the Liberals didn’t gain the majority they had hoped on Monday, the results established a clear direction for their re-elected government.

“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,” Mr. Carney said in his victory speech. “It is a time to be bold, to meet this crisis with the overwhelming positive force of a united Canada. We are going to build, baby, build.”

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B.C. can play an outsized role in helping build the country to withstand Mr. Trump’s threats, Mr. Eby argued this week. But helping his province and Canada pivot to an economy less dependent on the U.S. will require some fairness, the Premier maintains.

His complaints are hardly new. Since the westernmost province joined the Dominion of Canada a little more than 150 years ago, B.C. has complained about unequal treatment. It is now the third-most-populated province, and one of the few that pays into the national equalization system without a return.

Mr. Carney, addressing Canadians following his party’s victory on Monday night, did indicate that some of B.C.’s lobbying has gotten through. He didn’t mention steel or auto parts, but he did mention the one commodity that matters more to the B.C. economy: forest products.

In early April, the U.S. government announced it is set to more than double the duty it charges on softwood lumber imports from Canada, with the planned new rate set at 34.45 per cent.

At that time, Mr. Eby called on the federal government to support B.C. forest workers just as Ottawa has responded to the needs of steelworkers and auto workers in central Canada.

On Monday night, Mr. Carney promised to tackle the national housing shortage using domestic lumber.

“It’s time to build twice as many homes every year with an entirely new housing industry using Canadian technology, Canadian skilled workers, Canadian lumber,” Mr. Carney said.

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Kurt Niquidet, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council, said he was pleased that Mr. Carney has acknowledged the challenge facing Canada’s forest industry in the current trade war with the United States.

Roughly 80 per cent of B.C.’s $11-billion in softwood lumber sales last year went to the U.S. despite existing duties, but the next hike in levies is expected to be devastating.

“It was great for David Eby to raise it, but I think also other premiers across the country need to be raising it, and the federal government needs to make it a priority national issue,” he said in an interview.

But the industry will need more than a boost to domestic sales to survive, he said.

“We welcome any initiatives around building more with wood domestically, but we really need access to the U.S. market, and that’s got to be the main priority.”