Adam Pankratz: Eby’s co-governance with First Nations is driving investment out of B.C.

Premier David Eby makes an announcement about suspending sections of DRIPA on Thursday, April 2, 2026 at the B.C. Legislature. Alec Lazenby photo

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British Columbia Premier David Eby’s tenure has been terrible for British Columbians. In a survey published this week by the Business Council of B.C., 74 per cent of its members said they were decreasing their investment plans in British Columbia due to the disastrous implementation of DRIPA, B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ Act, which seeks to align B.C.’s laws with the United Nations declaration of the same name. The result has led to mass confusion and fear about who is truly in charge when it comes to running the province: its government or its First Nations?

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The concern is not misplaced. Recently, Terry Teegee, B.C. regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, was directly asked by CKNW radio host Jill Bennett if “we are now in a position in B.C.  where roughly 200 First Nations are co-governing this province with the B.C. government. Is that true?” Teegee replied, “Yes, that’s exactly right.”

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It’s not hard to understand why businesses are unwilling to invest their money in a province where the government is apparently co-governing with a group of 200 or more First Nations, each with their own priorities, and none of which have any responsibility to the people of British Columbia as a whole.

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British Columbia’s economy, which should be booming, has gone into a nosedive. In March, B.C.’s credit rating was downgraded again, as soaring deficits and a poor economy drag down the province’s outlook and investability.

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For British Columbians, this is all the more galling given the fact that the world is screaming for B.C.’s vast mineral and oil and gas resources. For such investments, international investors want safety, predictability and political stability. This is everything B.C. could be, but instead, under David Eby, we have decided to adopt the DRIPA legislation and impose an aspirational human rights document into B.C. law, rather than use our homegrown laws and Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution to govern our relationships with Indigenous people. In the Business Council’s survey, fully 98 per cent of respondents were “very concerned” about DRIPA and disagreed that it was “creating investment certainty in B.C.” Those are numbers no one can ignore.

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Not only has DRIPA torpedoed investment in B.C., but it is also now being used by Indigenous nations in Alaska to require their consent for economic decisions in B.C. You read that right. B.C.’s self-imposed DRIPA legislation is now being used by tribes in the United States of America to stop or slow development in B.C., unless they consent to what we are doing on our side of the border. Elbows up for DRIPA, everyone.

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The economic pain inflicted on British Columbia by David Eby’s NDP is not abstract. Further economic slowdowns don’t just stop business development, they also slow government revenues and taxes as a result.

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B.C.’s government is now broke and can’t afford to pay for the services British Columbians need. Tragically, a number of healthcare facility upgrades and buildouts have been cancelled. Burnaby, an important lower mainland suburb next to Vancouver, has seen its planned $1.8 billion hospital redevelopment chopped with no restart date because the province has no more money. According to Burnaby Hospital & Community Foundation CEO Kristy James, despite Burnaby MLAs and MP Michael Ma having consistently reassured her that the project was not cancelled, she told a reporter, “a terminated contract with no confirmed start date sounds like a cancellation.”