Eby focuses on U.S. health worker recruitment at Surrey border stop

Eby focuses on U.S. health worker recruitment at Surrey border stop

Published 4:10 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2026

A vote for the Conservatives is a vote for the pro-Trump camp, David Eby told those gathered at a campaign stop Wednesday.

That was one of the BC NDP leader’s main themes at a press conference held at Peace Arch Park in South Surrey, on the Canada-U.S. border, Wednesday (Sept. 23), where he told media and supporters his focus, should he be re-elected, is to triple U.S. health-care worker recruitment with a $15-million campaign.

After outlining several NDP achievements and investments while he has been premier, Eby then turned to strained Canada-U.S. relations under American president Donald Trump, with the Peace Arch monument framed behind him, as well as its Canadian and American flags.

“There are huge opportunities right now. We are delivering on them. They are underway, but this is also a moment of remarkable peril. Every day, a new attack from Trump. Every day, a new Canadian industry coming into focus for him and his rage and his yelling and his tariffs,” Eby said. “Businesses across the province are feeling these tariffs and bans now. Workers are under strain. Families feel these tariffs reaching into their grocery bill. They see it at the pump. They see the impacts every single day.”

B.C.’s targeted U.S. health-care recruitment has already seen more than 800 health professionals accept jobs in the province, Eby shared.

“(U.S health-care workers) have responded to that call in overwhelming numbers because they see in British Columbia the values that they hold themselves as health-care professionals. That they want to care for people, not insurance companies,” Eby said. “That they want to deliver the care that the patient needs, not the care that the politicians tell them they’re allowed to deliver … that is our big advantage when it comes to recruiting those health-care workers. If we turn our province into America Junior, we put all of that at risk.”

Eby also cited Trump’s “attack on women’s health” as another reason they have seen such interest from American doctors and nurses, and noted the recruitment campaign will also target Canadian health-care professionals living and working in the U.S., with new incentives to bring them home, including loan forgiveness and support with moving expenses.

Spending $15 million on this campaign will save “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions” in training, he said, and triple the number from 800 health professionals to more than 2,400.

Two others spoke at the border presser, sharing their experiences working in B.C. health care, with Eby saying he “doesn’t mind poaching a few health-care professionals from Donald Trump’s America.”

Eby also targeted the Conservative Party of B.C., noting how they’ve had four leaders within a 10-month period, and how their party has “acknowledged that health care would take the brunt of deep cuts” if elected.

The press conference was being held in former Conservative MLA Brent Chapman’s constituency of Surrey South, Eby noted, adding Chapman has just left the Conservatives for One BC, “the far-right conservative party in the province.”

“On the day when Donald Trump was tweeting about his opposition to the contribution of immigrants in Canada, and his continued attack on immigrants, this time focusing on our country … to hear about people, doctors, nurses in India that would want to come to British Columbia and Canada, and to know that the MLA of this community is embracing the hateful rhetoric around immigration and the contribution of immigrants … just underlines the scope of both the opportunity for British Columbia and the threat of taking that Conservative approach.”

Asked about calling a snap provincial election while a municipal election is simultaneously underway and potential voter fatigue, Eby said he has “great confidence” in British Columbians and that he thinks they understand the choice in front of them.

“Now I have a clear preference about which direction we should go. Build up our province, strengthen our people, shoulder to shoulder across the country standing up to Trump defending, protecting British Columbians and building,” he said. “Conservatives have a different agenda. And there is a clear choice. So I have confidence that British Columbians will be able to see that.”

With former NDP health minister and Delta North MLA Ravi Kahlon announcing he will not be running in the Oct. 24 election, Eby had nothing but praise for Kahlon, who was first elected to office in 2017.

“I’m heartbroken, but I get it. Ravi has been an incredible member of our team. He started as political staff in his direct work with the NDP and transition to MLA … he has been a pillar of the work that we’ve done as government,” Eby said, praising his “remarkable work” as minister of health as well as jobs and housing.

“As minister for jobs, (he) lined up $100 billion of major projects that are reaching final investment decisions (which) may create jobs and revenues to pay for public services … just crucial work in a time of attacks on our economy. I understand the need to prioritize his family and to support his family, and I’m very grateful for his support.”

Eby concluded by noting the people of the area might be yearning for change.

“I think about the people here in Surrey, White Rock. They voted Conservative. This is their choice. But I just can’t imagine that they thought that they would wake up and find out that their MLA was a representative of a far-right political party in our province that embraces a hateful rhetoric around immigration, around citizens, people and other things,” Eby said. “So … who’s going to represent them in this crucial moment? Who’s going to represent them in the choice they want to make about the direction of this province, working together, building, protecting our people, standing up to Trump, or folding, put the (U.S.) liquor back on the shelves?”