Eby defends debt as required to build for the future, improve infrastructure

British Columbia Premier David Eby is defending his approach to the government’s record budget deficit, comparing it to buying a home for a family’s future.

The premier gave the stump-like speech on government spending at the site of the nearly $6-billion Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, which is expected to be completed in 2029.

The government says eight stations along the 16-kilometre extension are now under construction.

Eby says such investments had been put off by multiple previous governments and suggested projects of this size could still be cancelled depending who was in power.

He says people in Surrey and Langley have “a clear and important choice” if they believe government should be borrowing money to invest in the community, while acknowledging that his comments were “a little more partisan than usual today.”

The February budget forecast the province’s deficit at a record $13.3 billion with a provincial debt of $183 billion.

Eby’s leadership has been under recent pressure over the deficit, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and job numbers showing British Columbia lost 40,000 positions in the first four months of this year.

The Opposition B.C. Conservatives will be choosing their new leader at a convention later this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2026

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press