Premier David Eby heads into the annual meeting of Canadian premiers on Monday with a long to-do list — everything from brokering the end of a liquor dispute with Alberta, to pushing for another round of bail reform.
It will be one of his last chances to influence national public policy before the start of the election campaign in two months. And it doesn’t look like the BC NDP leader intends to squander it.
“We’ve got a bit of a list,” Eby said in an interview.
“Underlining it is really, for me, finding ways to work with different premiers. I’d say our relationship with the federal government is a bit challenged right now.”
Challenged is an understatement.
Eby has been swinging public haymakers at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Ottawa’s unwillingness to provide British Columbia with federal funding support tied to its high immigration rate, versus what he perceives as special treatment for Quebec.
That’s manifested in a multi-month dispute over equalization payments — a federal program that redistributes financial aid from wealthy provinces to those struggling, though much of the funding ends up flowing to Quebec.
B.C. is ready to jump into Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey court challenge of the program, said Eby.
“We’ve been moving pieces along and hopefully we’re able to finalize a path forward out of Halifax,” said the premier.
Equalization, though, is a pretty esoteric subject for the B.C. electorate. A wine war with Alberta, on the other hand, the public can grasp.
The wine dispute between the two provinces is now in its sixth month. Alberta in January refused to stock B.C. wineries that were selling crates of wine directly to Alberta consumers, saying they were avoiding the regular $3.91 per bottle tax they’d otherwise have to pay for a sale in an Alberta liquor store.
British Columbia’s wine sector called it a slap in the face, because it’s already dealing with a devastating loss of grapes and vineyards due to an unusual cold snap of weather earlier this year.
“Our wineries are under huge stress,” said Eby. “Getting that resolved is really important to them.”
B.C. wineries offered to collect and remit the tax on direct-to-consumer sales, but complained there was no mechanism to pay Alberta the money.
Alberta said it would create such a payment system, but only if B.C. in turn opened up its public and private liquor store shelves to more Alberta beer. That created a multi-month stalemate.
“That was their initial position, but we’ve moved past that,” said Eby, who is now negotiating directly with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
“I feel really hopeful.”
Eby said he also wants to hammer out some details with Smith over transporting hydrogen by rail between the provinces, including safeguards and indemnities. Eby has been a heavy backer of hydrogen as an alternative clean fuel source, saying B.C. is well-positioned to lead in that sector.
Another major file up for discussion will be repeat violent offenders. Although the provinces banded together to push Ottawa to tighten bail rules earlier this year, the reforms appear to be falling short of addressing the issue.
The B.C. government has been struggling to explain how a repeat violent offender, in and out of jail on other charges, probation and bail, was able to be released from prison in June and the next day allegedly attack and kill 30-year-old Surrey woman Tori Dunnin a home invasion.
Eby said he met with the Dunn family and promised changes.
“With the Dunn case it’s pretty clear the amendments we lobbied for, and got, were not followed by the court,” he said.
“So I’ll be checking in with the other premiers to see if they have similar cases, and if they do, whether we will send a joint letter to the federal government asking them to do a review of the early implementation and whether additional steps need to be taken.”
All told, the agenda is ambitious. Especially for a premier running out of time in his mandate. Voters, ultimately, will decide whether he’s at the table to pick any of these topics back up at the next Council of the Federation meeting in 2025.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 15 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
