Rob Shaw: B.C. premier talks trade war, short-term rentals and more in 1-on-1 interview

B.C. Premier David Eby is shown in the CHEK News studio for a one-on-one interview on April 17, 2025.

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C. Premier David Eby sat down with CHEK News on Thursday for a wide-ranging interview, with topics including post-secondary school funding, immigration, the April 28 federal election and short-term rental rules, among more.The full, nearly 15-minute long interview can be found further below in this article.

Post-secondary schools and immigrationB.C.’s premier says he won’t be offering bailouts to colleges and universities grappling with course cuts and layoffs due to federal cuts to international students.

David Eby, who called Ottawa’s ongoing cuts to provincial immigration levels “devastating,” said he’s tried to prioritize post-secondary institutions for limited spaces, but recognizes they are in trouble.“That’s had a really devastating impact on the finances of these schools,” Eby said in an interview with CHEK News on Thursday.“They are going to have to restructure.

There aren’t provincial resources to make them whole. We have increased grants to universities and colleges generally, but they are going to have to adapt to this lower number of international students going forward.”Camosun College is cutting the equivalent of 18 full time teaching positions as it faces an $11 million budget shortfall, and Vancouver Island University’s president resigned over ongoing budgetary challenges.

Post-secondary institutions aren’t allowed to run deficit budgets, but Eby said his government is nonetheless exempting many of them to do so for one year.“It’s not sustainable,” he said. “They’re going to have to make significant changes in order to restructure to this new reality.

”Watch the full interview recorded on April 17, 2025, below:Loading the player...

var playerInstance_12500761 = jwplayer( "jwppp-video-12500761" );playerInstance_12500761.setup({playlist: "https://cdn.jwplayer.

com/v2/media/tlZzor1p",})B.C. had requested 11,000 immigrants from the federal government this year through its provincial nominee program, but received only 4,000.

“That significant reduction means that for recruiting healthcare workers, in this moment where we can recruit scientists from the U.S., or business owners who are getting out of there, highly skilled people who just want to get out of the U.

S. right now, we’re actually having to say to them: No, I’m sorry, we can’t bring you up right now because our our numbers of sponsorships have been reduced so significantly,” he said.Local and federal governmentsEby also responded to a resolution from the Vancouver Island Association of Coastal Communities to allow municipalities to borrow large amounts of money for capital projects without referendum or alternate approvals processes, after Nanaimo failed three times in two years to get voters’ approval for a public works yard.

“It can be hard to pitch that to people,” said Eby. “I understand why the rules are there. The borrowing that local governments do lasts, obviously, longer than the four-year term, and they have to stay in balance in their municipal budgets.

But certainly we’ll have a look at that.”Eby said he doesn’t want to see “critical infrastructure that municipalities do need to have in order to function” blocked by legislated approvals processes.He urged whomever wins the April 28 federal election to immediately convene the premiers and ensure free trade is executed across the country by the summer, as well as support B.

C.’s forest sector as it is rocked by worsening tariffs and softwood lumber duties.Outside of the U.

S. issue, he said he remains focused on improving permitting times to get major natural resource projects built more quickly. At the same time, after removing the carbon tax due to affordability concerns, he said he’s attempting to renew the fight against climate change without that tool.

Short-term rentalsEby also acknowledged concerns from families planning summer vacations in B.C. facing high hotel prices and limited short-term rental options due to his government’s crackdown on short-term rental restrictions last year.

He said “about five per cent of the rent declines in the province are attributed to our short term rental policy” and urban centres need to focus on that.He, for the first time, raised the prospect of relaxing his short-term rental restrictions in the future, if rental vacancy rates and prices continue to improve.“When we get back to healthy rental levels in communities, we’ll reduce those restrictions, and people will be able to do short term rentals again,” he said.

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