Taxpayers' group demands accountability from David Eby government in the New Year

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has challenged BC NDP Premier David Eby’s government with three New Year’s resolutions for 2026.

Source: Facebook

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has challenged BC NDP Premier David Eby’s government with three New Year’s resolutions for 2026: stop wasteful spending, fix transparency laws, and restore accountability for local politicians.

In a press release issued on New Year’s Eve, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) outlined urgent steps needed to restore accountability at the provincial and municipal levels.

The federation argued that, despite Premier David Eby previously directing ministers to find savings, a series of spending controversies over the past year indicates a failure to rein in costs.

Introducing the resolutions, CTF’s B.C. director, Carson Binda, said that “taxpayers have seen repeated examples of wasteful government spending.”

“Eby told his ministers to find savings for taxpayers, but instead they’ve slapped taxpayers with spending scandal after spending scandal,” said Carson Binda. “Eby and his cabinet need to rein in spending on travel, liquor and other wasteful excess.”

The federation pointed to several high-profile expenditures revealed through access-to-information requests, including a $6,600 limousine expense during a four-day trip to Boston, nearly $118,000 spent on an awards dinner for bureaucrats, and $189,000 billed to taxpayers for three “wood leather” soccer balls.

Binda said those disclosures highlight what he described as a broader problem with government transparency.

“Taxpayers only found out about those scandals because of freedom of information requests and this government has made it expensive and difficult to file those requests,” he said. “Democracy dies in darkness and Eby is doing everything he can to prevent sunlight from sanitizing his spending scandals.”

The group’s second resolution calls on the province to reverse changes made to freedom of information laws in 2021, when Eby was attorney general. Those amendments allow the government to charge an automatic fee for records requests and have drawn criticism for delayed or incomplete responses.

Binda cited comments from former information commissioner Michael McEvoy, who said the government “is systematically failing to abide by the law.”

The final resolution urges the province to reinstate the auditor general for local governments, a role the B.C. government eliminated. The federation argues that the absence of an independent watchdog has reduced oversight of municipal and regional district spending.

“Accountability has also taken a hit at the municipal level because the provincial government eliminated the auditor general for local governments,” Binda said. “Time and time again, taxpayers have learned about spending scandals at cities and regional districts that may have been caught sooner if the government brought back the municipal auditor general.”

The taxpayers’ advocacy group previously released its annual performance report card, giving most provincial finance ministers a failing grade for raising debt levels that leave taxpayers footing the bill.

British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey earned a D- on the report card. She received an F in the debt category after increasing the debt by $23.6 billion in 2025. By year’s end, British Columbians owed $27,000 each, the fourth-highest per capita debt nationwide.

The federation noted that more than 10,000 British Columbians signed a petition delivered to the legislature in 2025 calling for the return of the auditor general, framing the new year as an opportunity for the Eby government to change course.

True North reached out to Eby and Bailey for comment but received no reply.