The NDP government has found a new way to make basic public administration expensive: fail to move prisoners to court, then hire private aircraft to clean up the mess.

CBC News reported on May 6, 2026 that B.C. taxpayers have spent more than $300,000 since April 17 flying accused prisoners to and from court on private charter aircraft. The flights follow a serious breakdown in the province’s responsibility to transport people in custody to criminal proceedings on time.

This is not a small scheduling error. Criminal trials depend on the state doing the basics: hold accused people lawfully, bring them to court when ordered, and avoid delays that can jeopardize prosecutions. When the government fails at that, victims, accused people, witnesses, police and taxpayers all pay the price.

A contempt ruling, then the charter bill

The crisis escalated after the B.C. Supreme Court found Attorney General Niki Sharma and Solicitor General Nina Krieger in contempt because corrections staff failed to transport two inmates to court in Kelowna. According to CBC, the province then began using private planes to move prisoners, including at least seven inmates between April 22 and May 2.

What CBC reported

  • More than $300,000 spent on private aircraft since April 17.
  • Flights used to transport accused prisoners to and from court.
  • The spending followed court-transport failures and a contempt finding involving senior B.C. ministers.
  • At least seven inmates were transported by private aircraft between April 22 and May 2.

British Columbians should ask a simple question: how does a province with a multibillion-dollar justice and corrections system end up chartering planes because it cannot reliably get prisoners to court?

The Eby government talks constantly about “systems change.” But the justice system does not need slogans when a court date arrives. It needs vehicles, staff, coordination, accountability and ministers who understand that court orders are not optional.

The cost of incompetence

There are only two possibilities, and neither is flattering. Either the government did not have the capacity to perform a core correctional function, or it had the capacity and failed to manage it. Both answers point to the same conclusion: the public is paying premium prices for basic competence that should have existed in the first place.

The NDP will likely describe these charter flights as an “operational” response. That misses the point. The operational failure is the story. A justice system that requires private planes after a contempt ruling is not a system under control. It is a system improvising after the damage is done.

For a government already under fire over public safety, court delays, drug policy and budget blowouts, this is another warning sign. B.C. taxpayers are not just funding services. They are increasingly funding the emergency workarounds created when those services fail.

The bottom line: the NDP government could not reliably get prisoners to court, the courts pushed back, and taxpayers were handed a private-aircraft bill north of $300,000. That is not justice reform. That is mismanagement at cruising altitude.