B.C. Premier Eby defends coffee-with-doctors recruitment after 'stunt' accusation

Premier David Eby is joined by fellow MLAs in solidarity as he speaks during a press conference following the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

British Columbia Premier David Eby is praising the jolt the province got from a campaign to attract doctors over a cup of coffee despite criticism of wasteful spending from a national taxpayers group.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says B.C. spent $165,000 on a “stunt” for a coffee truck where 1,000 drinks were handed out to health-care workers in the United States, the equivalent of $164 per cup.

Eby says the coffee truck was staffed by Canadian health-care workers who were engaging with U.S. health workers outside of hospitals in cities along the U.S. West Coast.

He says the move was “probably the single most effective marketing initiative” the government has ever had and the province hired more than 500 American health-care workers to come to B.C.

The federation calls it “the most expensive way imaginable to hand out free coffee,” by a province already drowning in debt.

Eby says it costs about $350,000 to train a new doctor and the correct metric of success is not the cost per cup of coffee, but the amount spent for the number of health-care workers recruited.

“We know we’re short on health-care workers. And more than 2,000 American health-care workers have applied for jobs with (B.C.) health authorities. We saw the number jump by 100 in terms of American health-care workers hired in just the last month,” Eby says.

“It was so successful that we are seriously thinking about doing it again.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.