Victoria, BC — Premier David Eby stood at the podium yesterday preaching the gospel of “buy local” with his elbows up and his best “I’m-one-of-you” grin. But just hours later, his government quietly slid a multi-billion-dollar shipbuilding contract across the Pacific to a Chinese state-owned company, leaving BC’s own shipyards emptier than a Canucks playoff run.
Local welders and dock workers were left scratching their hard hats. “We got told to keep buying BC apples and to support our corner breweries,” said Steve from North Van. “But when it comes to ships? Nah, bud, apparently it’s Beijing or bust.”
BC shipyards—some of which have been around since before Expo ’86—are now looking at rust instead of rivets. “We’ve got guys who can build ferries, tugboats, probably even a floating Tim Hortons if you gave us the specs,” said one frustrated foreman. “But apparently we’re too ‘local’ for the Premier’s global vision.”
Eby defended the decision, saying the Chinese yard had offered “great value” and “timely delivery.” When pressed, he added, “Besides, have you seen the price of lumber around here? It’s cheaper to buy a finished boat from Shanghai than to rent a shed in Burnaby.”
The optics weren’t helped by reports that Eby’s office sent out a same-day press release encouraging British Columbians to “shop local for the holidays” while simultaneously shipping taxpayer money offshore. “It’s like telling us to drink Okanagan wine, then cracking a box of Great Wall Cabernet at dinner,” quipped one MLA.
Union reps are furious, accusing the NDP of elbowing local workers straight into the unemployment line. “Buy local my butt,” said one. “Next thing you know, they’ll outsource poutine to Paris.”
For now, BC’s welders, carpenters, and marine engineers are left high and dry, staring at empty docks while the Premier sails his “buy local” rhetoric straight into international waters.
As one shipyard worker summed it up: “Eby talks local, but when the contracts come around, the only thing we’re building here is resentment.”
