Premier’s Asia trade junket nothing more than damage control at a time when BC needs to be making progress on trade and the economy
Richmond, BC – Conservative MLAs are shining a light on BC NDP Premier David Eby’s failures on external and interprovincial trade as he heads on a 10-day damage control junket to Asia. Hot off ramming through Bills 14 and 15, the Premier is doing whatever he can to distract from his dismal economic record.
“This Premier has not done anything to advance BC’s trade agenda. If anything, he has worked to substantially erode any progress BC made,” said Teresa Wat, Conservative MLA for Richmond-Bridgeport and Official Opposition Critic for Trade. “If this BC NDP government had not shut down 13 freestanding trade offices, we would not have to play catch-up when we are facing constant threats of increased US tariffs.”
In 2019, the BC NDP government shut down 13 independent trade offices in China, Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. Doing so meant folding up offices, cutting staff, and folding the work of these trade offices into existing Canadian embassies.
“The result of this misguided move was a deprioritization of trade relationships that had taken years to establish in these countries,” Wat continued. “We are essentially starting back at square one. Imagine how much further ahead we would be today and how much more resilient we would be to external tariff pressures from the US if David Eby’s government had not taken such a short-sighted view of trade.”
Wat continued, “It’s no surprise that exports to China are down by 20%, Japan by 20%, Korea by 11%, and trade with India has also slipped over the last five years. During that same time, reliance on the US market has increased by 27%.”
The Conservative Party of BC is calling on all 13 independent trade offices to be re-opened and for the government to quickly look at expanding trade offices in new regions so British Columbia can find new markets for our exports.
“BC as a province has so much to offer. It’s a shame that David Eby and the BC NDP government don’t feel the same way. BC should be celebrating the success of a fully diversified BC market, but instead we have a government desperately changing the channel from the economic disaster it created.”
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