Premier David Eby says immigration into British Columbia is “completely overwhelming” the province as he calls for changes to Canada’s equalization formula.
Eby made the comments earlier this month while sharing his support for Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey’s legal challenge against the federal government over what some believe to be mismanagement of federal funding in relation to immigration.
The two premiers are seeking financial support from the Trudeau government to alleviate the influx of migrants each province has received, similar to how Quebec Premier Francois Legault was able to secure $750 million in federal funding for its accommodation of migrants.
“We’re talking about well in excess of 10,000 people a month,” Eby told reporters in Halifax. “Our most recent total for last year was 180,000 new British Columbians.”
Eby said that while the province’s immigration is “exciting,” logistically it isn’t sustainable because public resources such as schools have become strained.
“And that’s great, and that’s exciting, and it’s necessary. And it’s completely overwhelming. To add a new city of 180,000 people every year to our province is not sustainable. Our schools are full. We are unable to keep up with housing starts.”
Eby said Canada’s premiers discussed the issue during the Council of the Federation conference to understand how they would “link up our immigration targets and the federal government’s immigration work with the reality on the ground of what we have capacity for.”
“We don’t want to lose the overall picture of how dramatically the population is growing, certainly in British Columbia, and the impacts that that’s having on the ground in terms of our ability just to keep up,” he added.
The Liberal government has admitted its current immigration levels are too high, with Immigration Minister Marc Miller saying that the current system is “out of control” in January.
Miller’s office did not respond to True North for comment.
Canada’s population grew by 1.27 million people last year alone, with immigration accounting for 97.7% of that growth.
B.C.’s population increased to 5.6 million people last year, up from 5.43 million in 2022.
This isn’t the first time that Eby has been critical of equalization funding, saying in June that he took issue with how federal immigration money was being “showered down” on Quebec and Ontario “at the expense of Western Canada.”
According to the premier, B.C. is receiving 10,000 people every 37 days and many refugees are being forced to stay in homeless shelters and international students are being left without support.
“And so to see a single-province agreement with Quebec, is an underlining of a sense of frustration that I heard around the table,” Eby said last month.
Legault initially asked the Trudeau government to be reimbursed $1 billion for costs incurred by its influx of immigration, for which the province ultimately received $750 million.
Eby called the news of Quebec’s funding to be the “straw that broke this camel’s back.”
“I cannot understand how that could happen. I cannot understand why we cannot get a per capita share at a minimum,” he said.