Asked about increasing numbers of asylum seekers – a major concern for Ontario and Quebec – Eby emphasized that migration in general has created problems in BC.
“We’re talking about well in excess of 10,000 people a month,” he said. “Our most recent total for last year was 180,000 new British Columbians.
“And that’s great, and that’s exciting, and it’s necessary. And it’s completely overwhelming. To add a new city of 180,000 people every year to our province is not sustainable. Our schools are full. We are unable to keep up with housing starts.”
He said one of the topics under discussion in Halifax – where Canada’s premiers have been speaking during the Council of the Federation get-together – was how provinces can work more closely with Ottawa on migration.
Premiers, he said, are interested in figuring out how “we link up our immigration targets and the federal government’s immigration work with the reality on the ground of what we have capacity for.”
He added: “We don’t want to lose the overall picture of how dramatically population is growing, certainly in British Columbia, and the impacts that that’s having on the ground in terms of our ability just to keep up.”
The Trudeau government has been heavily criticized – including by the prime minister himself – for allowing record-breaking levels of migration in recent years.
BC’s population grew from 5.43 million at the beginning of 2023 to 5.6 million by year’s end.
Economists have warned that Canada’s “staggering” growth in people has led to a stagnation, or even decline, in living standards as inflation increases while incomes remain static.
A report released by Statistics Canada last month predicted that Canada’s population could, according to its “high-growth” estimate, top 87 million by 2073.
The same study predicted that BC’s population could reach 8.8 million by 2048.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.