Vaughn Palmer: In forgiving cabinet split, David Eby shows his desperation at slim majority

British Columbia Premier David Eby delivers his remarks during a news conference at Canada's Premiers 2026 in Charlottetown, PEI Tuesday July 21, 2026. Photo by TIM KROCHAK

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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby tried to make light this week of a cabinet split after cabinet minister Kelly Greene opposed the NDP government’s expedited approval of the $2 billion Fortis LNG terminal expansion on Tilbury Island.

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The split was foreshadowed earlier this month when nine former NDP MLAs and MPs joined labour and Indigenous leaders in accusing the government of abandoning climate action in favour of supporting LNG development.

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Eby discounted the significance of the open letter. “I just disagree with them,” he told reporters, citing the “thousands of jobs” and “billions of dollars in revenue” that will flow to government from projects like LNG Canada Phase 2.

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The premier said he was “happy” to debate the merits of LNG development with the former elected officials and other NDP supporters, but had no intention of backing off the drive for LNG.

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The Eby government took another bold step Friday, when Energy Minister Adrian Dix announced the cabinet was expediting approval of the Fortis LNG project.

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Later that day came a statement from Greene opposing the LNG project.

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“I am disappointed,” she said. “For months, I have listened to safety concerns from people in my community. I raised those issues with government at every opportunity.”

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Greene framed it as a statement of opposition to Fortis, never acknowledging that her own cabinet colleagues had just exempted the project from independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission.

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She also spoke as NDP MLA for Richmond–Steveston — downriver from Tilbury Island — without acknowledging that she was also minister of emergency management and climate readiness in the same cabinet that gave the go ahead.

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The New Democrats tried to minimize the significance of a cabinet minister publicly disagreeing with her own cabinet colleagues.

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“This is an issue she has been vocal on even before she became a cabinet minister,” said government house leader Mike Farnworth. “We knew all about it.”

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I bet Farnworth couldn’t name one precedent for a minister publicly criticizing a decision by his or her own colleagues and yet remaining in cabinet.

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The precedents all run the other way:

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• B.C. cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom breaking with the Gordon Campbell government over the harmonized sales tax and resigning in 2010.

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• Federal Liberal ministers Steven Guilbeault and Chrystia Freeland resigning over government decisions.

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• U.K. defence secretary John Healey resigning from the Labour government over defence funding earlier this summer.

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What Greene did, was “unheard of in Canadian politics,” political scientist Hamish Telford told Global TV.

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“If you’re a cabinet minister that cannot abide by the decision of cabinet, you either keep your mouth shut or you resign. She has put this statement out with the blessing of the NDP, which I find extraordinary.”