The 70,000-job pipeline Eby said no to

Alberta has filed a plan for a million-barrel-a-day oil pipeline to a new export terminal in Delta. By its proponent's numbers, most of the construction and most of the jobs would be in BC. BC's premier spent the months when the terms were being written saying no.

The first answer was no

When Danielle Smith first proposed an Alberta-to-Prince Rupert pipeline in 2025, Eby did not name a price, a royalty, or a benefits package for BC. He said no,^⁠[1] and defended the federal tanker ban as "foundational."^⁠[2]

Ottawa and Alberta signed a pipeline memorandum without him in November 2025, opening the door to adjusting that ban.^⁠[3] Eby's first worry was not what BC would get. It was that the project might become "an energy vampire," drawing federal attention away from LNG terminals and transmission lines.^⁠[4]

What BC was saying no to

In July 2026 Alberta filed the actual proposal: a million barrels a day through about 1,250 km of pipe, mostly along the existing Trans Mountain corridor, to a new export terminal at Roberts Bank in Delta.^⁠[5]⁠[6] The southern route avoids reopening the north-coast tanker ban.^⁠[7]

Alberta's submission, modelled by RBC Capital Markets, projects up to 70,000 jobs in BC at the construction peak in the early 2030s, 2.8% of the province's workforce. It puts $29 billion to $38 billion of construction spending in BC, lifting provincial GDP by about 1.5% at the peak, plus $51 million a year in property taxes to BC local governments.^⁠[6]

Those are the proponent's numbers, and TD Economics cautions that such estimates "may lean optimistic." Even TD's more conservative reading has the project permanently lifting Canada's GDP by about 0.3%.^⁠[7] BC stands to host the terminal, most of the construction, and most of the jobs.

Then he stopped fighting it

Eby now says BC will not go to court to fight the pipeline.^⁠[8] That leaves the months he spent saying no while Ottawa and Alberta wrote the terms without him. BC's coast, ports, and jobs were on that table, and BC's premier was not.

His voters sit elsewhere. Angus Reid found 53% of British Columbians support the pipeline, and 60% of Canadians.^⁠[9]

A premier who wants to be trusted with BC's economy should have been at that table negotiating what BC gets for a yes. Eby spent that time saying no, then conceded he would not fight it anyway.