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 on Friday at the site of the nearly $6-billion Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension, which is expected to be completed in 2029.

“When you build a house, when you borrow that money from the bank to buy the house, your debt increases dramatically,” he said.

“But you know, for your family, for the future of your family, for what’s important for you, that that is an investment in your future that you will pay off over a lifetime.”

The government said in a statement that eight stations along the 16-kilometre extension are now under construction.

Eby told reporters that 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.

“This project is not only necessary and essential, but will drive a number of important activities south of the Fraser (River). It will create new housing. It’ll create new economic opportunities. It will increase prosperity and it will make life better for people south of the Fraser,” he said.

“And to build this project, we have to borrow money, and that is what the debt is about.”

The February budget forecast the province’s deficit at a record $13.3 billion with a provincial debt of $183 billion. It predicted the debt would reach $235 billion by the 2028 fiscal year.

Eby said 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.”

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.

A statement from Conservative Jobs critic Gavin Dew on Friday said the NDP government’s “inconsistent and incoherent” position on land title has shattered investor confidence in the province.

“There is a bright future ahead for B.C. through these storm clouds. But it requires a government that takes the economy seriously. This one doesn’t,” he said.

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

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press