Eby Said Build Ferries Here. His Labour Allies Want the Receipt.

The NDP’s ferry-jobs problem just got harder to dismiss. A new coalition of 17 trade unions, calling itself Build Them Here, is demanding that the next vessels added to the BC Ferries fleet be built in British Columbia. The unions represent more than 7,000 workers, including shipbuilders, ferry workers and steelworkers, according to Times Colonist reporting carried by Castanet.

This is not a fringe complaint. It is organized labour, the political family David Eby’s government usually claims to champion, saying the province needs a real industrial plan instead of another offshore procurement cycle. BC Building Trades says polling found 84% of British Columbians want a plan to keep shipbuilding jobs in B.C., and 61% say ferries should be built here.

The current record is stark. BC Ferries’ own quarterly report says that on May 7, 2025 it awarded contracts for the design, build and delivery of four New Major Vessels to China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyard Co. Ltd. The vessels are planned to enter service starting in 2029, roughly six months apart, with capacity for up to 2,100 passengers and crew and 360 vehicles each.

BC Ferries says it works with B.C. shipyards on maintenance, refits, upgrades and other fleet work, and that the Summit-class procurement sought Canadian participation. It also says no Canadian shipyards submitted proposals and that it could not delay replacing aging vessels while waiting for domestic capacity to develop.

Those facts matter. But they do not end the accountability question; they sharpen it. If domestic yards were not ready for this order, why was there no serious bridge plan years ago to make them ready for the next one? If B.C. can subsidize, regulate and politically defend the ferry system, the government cannot shrug every jobs question back to an “independent” corporation and call that leadership.

In the Legislature on May 7, 2026, Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth confirmed the new vessels would be constructed in China and said BC Ferries’ procurement is independent of government. He also said the next bid outside China was up to $1.2 billion higher. That is an important cost claim. It deserves a public-side ledger showing what B.C. counts as “cost”: only sticker price, or also lost apprenticeships, lost industrial capacity, lost payrolls and future dependence on foreign yards?

The unions are asking for a task force, a workforce strategy, expanded training and a procurement road map. That is the minimum responsible response. Eby cannot campaign on buy-local language, lean on workers for political credibility, and then offer them lectures about procurement paperwork when a generation of ferry work sails away.

If the NDP believes B.C. should build the next fleet here, it should publish the plan, dates, capacity gaps and budget choices. If it does not, it should say so plainly. What is not defensible is pretending that a province surrounded by ocean has no strategic interest in whether its ferry dollars build B.C. ships or B.C. excuses.