Buy Canadian campaign announcement made by David Eby at Lower Mainland stop

Buy Canadian campaign announcement made by David Eby at Lower Mainland stop

Published 1:30 pm Thursday, September 24, 2026

BC NDP leader David Eby made a stop in Maple Ridge Thursday morning, Sept. 24, to announce a new legislative requirements that government agencies buy Canadian products when possible for public infrastructure projects.

Eby made the announcement at the IUOE 115 Training Centre, a specialized trades training facility, that provides hands-on technical training, apprenticeships, and safety certifications for the heavy construction, road building, and resource industries in British Columbia.

It is a doubling down of a policy the BC NDP government already had in place, Eby explained, which was a only a guideline for Crown Corporations to choose Canadian where possible.

“What this will be is a requirement now,” he said.

“This will be a legislative requirement that where there is a Canadian supplier within the bid range of a competing American bid that the Crown Corporation must choose that company,” he explained.

The new requirement is part of new “Built in B.C. and Canada” procurement rules for public infrastructure projects that the BC NDP leader said he is committing to.

Eby blamed attacks by President Donald Trump and the White House administration on the increasing prices of groceries, gas, and housing, and, he said, he is standing up to the bullying, protecting people, businesses, and workers.

He said his new “Built in BC and Canadian” plan will apply to ministries, Crown agencies, and health authorities, and require them to put B.C. and Canadian-made goods and materials to work on public projects, wherever it is viable.

They will be encouraging municipal governments to do the same.

This new approach has been applied to the construction of the North Coast Transmission Line, being built by BC Hydro from Prince George to Terrace.

The transmission line will reduce the cost of the operation of major projects and makes BC more globally competitive, said Eby. It will also create more jobs and opportunity, help communities develop economically, reduce carbon pollution, reduce costs because diesel and gas are expensive, and create jobs.

“We will be directing BC Hydro to ensure that 70 per cent of the steel used in phase one will be Canadian steel. And, in phase two of the North Coast transmission line, 100 per cent of the steel used in every tower on that transmission line will be Canadian steel from Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec,” he said.