BC Conservatives say Premier’s Cabinet Shuffle Offers Nothing New for Struggling British Columbians

“Premier Eby is trying to distract from his choice to create GoFundMe health care in BC and his decision to sell out BC workers by building BC ferries in China. Under Premier Eby’s leadership, sick children aren’t getting medicine and B.C. workers are being sold out. He’s shuffling the deck chairs in a BC ferry built in China. British Columbians don’t need a new list of job titles; they need this government to start doing the job it was elected to do.” ~~  John Rustad, Leader of the Official Opposition Conservative Caucus


VICTORIA: Official Opposition Conservative Leader John Rustad is calling today’s cabinet shuffle a distraction from Premier David Eby’s mounting failures, saying the move offers no relief to the millions of British Columbians facing unaffordable living costs, a crumbling health care and public safety system, and growing economic uncertainty.

“Premier Eby is trying to distract from his choice to create GoFundMe health care in BC and his decision to sell out BC workers by building BC ferries in China,” said Rustad. “Under Premier Eby’s leadership, sick children aren’t getting medicine and BC workers are being sold out to China. He’s shuffling the deck chairs in a BC ferry built in China. British Columbians don’t need a new list of job titles; they need this government to start doing the job it was elected to do.”

The Eby government framed the shuffle as a response to growing economic pressures, particularly escalating trade tensions with the United States. But Rustad says this is all smoke and mirrors.

“This Premier walked away from his own promises, like the $1,000 grocery rebate, because he spent more than any premier in the last half century. Now he wants a pat on the back for reshuffling the same ministers who let this crisis develop on their watch.”

Rustad pointed to a series of recent scandals and failures under the NDP government’s watch, including: 

• The death of a woman in Kelowna hours after her attacker was released from custody; 
• Ongoing ER closures, including the shuttering of Kelowna’s pediatric ward; 
• The government defunding Charleigh Pollock’s treatment, despite not having consulted with any Batten disease experts on the case; 
• BC Ferries' contract with a Chinese state-owned shipyard, outsourcing jobs while shipbuilders here struggle. 

“If David Eby really wanted to show leadership, he’d take responsibility, not hide behind a desperate summer reset,” Rustad said. “The people of BC deserve a government that will fight for them, not one that’s constantly playing politics while British Columbians struggle to make ends meet.”

Rustad reaffirmed the BC Conservative Party’s commitment to restoring affordability, fixing frontline healthcare, strengthening public safety, and defending BC’s economic interests at home and abroad.

We’re ready to govern. Ready to bring real solutions. And ready to put British Columbians first.”