BC NDP Leader David Eby is campaigning in Victoria on Monday, but an announcement he made on Sunday is generating a lot of reaction.
Eby announced that if his party is re-elected, he will introduce a new tax bracket for those who earn $1 million or more to help pay for health care.
“We’re glad when people are successful; it’s fantastic,” Eby said.
“We cheer for them; we want them to be successful. And it’s also right to ask people who earn a little bit more to pitch in in a moment like this, when people across the province need those strong public services.”
Documents provided by the party say that the proposed changes would start in the 2027 tax year and are projected to raise $225 million in 2026/27, $925 million the next year, and $1 billion in the year after that.
The party said that a portion of income above $1 million would be taxed at 24.5 per cent.
The portion between $265,545 and $1 million would be taxed at 22.5 per cent, while income between $190,405 and $265,545 would be taxed at 18.8 per cent.
The documents say that the changes would apply to less than four per cent of earners and only to income earned over each tax bracket.
The BC Conservatives are calling the proposal a “doctor’s tax” and claim it will drive well-paid physicians out of the province.
“What I’m very fearful of is that while we try to attract doctors to this jurisdiction, and what I mean by that is British Columbia, the reality is that this tax seems to be levied right at this group of people,” BC Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson said at an event on Monday.
“And I feel that that is a negative situation for doctors that are considering coming here. Frankly, I feel that it may even drive doctors from our province. So these types of announcements are not helping in British Columbia.”
On Monday, Doerkson announced the BC Conservatives’ health-care plan for the province.
He said they will “build a world-class public health care system” for British Columbians and said they will “maintain health-care funding at the levels that have been approved in 2026.”
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“More importantly, when the finance minister starts to build the budget each and every year, our first decision will be to fully fund health care. I want to repeat that because this is very important. Our first decision in every budget will be to fully fund healthcare.”
Doerkson said they will also prioritize B.C. students for medical training, fast-track credentialing for foreign-trained Canadian doctors coming back to B.C. and automatically recognize credentials from other provinces.
They will also enforce zero tolerance for violence in hospitals and reverse emergency room and maternity closures and increase rural health-care access.
“A Conservative government will establish clear expectations for essential health services in rural and regional communities, and we will create more flexible staffing capacity to avoid emergency room and maternity ward closures,” Doerkson added.
He said they will create a $50 million emergency fund, which will be available for rural medical practices to prevent closures and aid recruitment.
And in the first 100 days after taking office, Doerkson said they will establish an expert review panel to examine “universally publicly-funded health-care systems around the world and recommend proven practices that can be used to improve health care in British Columbia.”
Doerkson said the $50 million fund would be part of the 2026 budget.
Eby while in Victoria also announced his party’s plan to strengthen health care for seniors.
He pledged free shingles vaccines for all adults aged 50-plus and all immunocompromised adults, adding 500 health-care workers to give more seniors faster, hands-on support, scrapping user fees, and expanding virtual long-term care at home monitoring, bringing more nurse practitioners, pharmacy services, and virtual specialist consultations into long-term care homes, moving ahead with seven long-term care projects that had been paused earlier this year and fair wages for care workers.
“When I think about groups that are particularly concerned about and interested in the future of health-care in the province, it’s the people who help build this province, its seniors,” Eby said.
“There’s one thing I know about these challenges and about what seniors are looking for with absolute certainty: it’s that the Conservative commitment to cut health care, to cut education, to put costs on the backs of British Columbians is not gonna solve these hard health care challenges.”
Eby said the money from the tax on those earning at least $1 million will help fund some of these health-care initiatives.
“It’s important to recognize that even with these tax changes, British Columbia will have one of the lowest tax rates for medical professionals and all other kinds of professionals in the entire country and will maintain our status as the lowest income tax level for people who are middle income in the province,” Eby said.
“Ninety-six per cent of people in the province will not see any impact from these tax changes, asking people who have a little bit more to give a little more during this challenging time for the province, and seniors are struggling with not being able to get the shingles vaccine, for example, that’s the right thing to do.”
BC Greens Leader Emily Lowan was also in Victoria on Monday, announcing a plan to tax the wealthy, but only British Columbians with more than $50 million in wealth.
Called the Fair Share Act, the revenue will help fund universal childcare, free public transit and affordable housing.
“Families and workers across B.C. keep hearing the same answer from this government: the money isn’t there,” said Lowan. “But the cupboard isn’t bare, the government just hasn’t looked in the multi-car garages. The money exists in this province. It sits with the people who make more in their sleep than a worker makes in a year. We just haven’t had a government with the political will to ask for it.”
She said their tax targets what wealthy people own, not what they are paid.
The BC Greens said it would be a one-time Fair Share Tax, starting at five per cent on net wealth above $50 million, 10 per cent above $100 million, and 20 per cent above $1 billion.
There would then be an ongoing annual tax, starting at two per cent on net wealth above $50 million, three per cent above $100 million and five per cent above $1 billion.
-with files from The Canadian Press
Tax the rich?. Do believe the FN’s dont pay any tax. Try again Eby.
Yet not one candidate or Mr. Eby himself, can offer anything to help BC’s PWD (Persons with Disability) to live a better, healthier life by increaseing their stale poverty benefit of $18,000 (out of which we pay rent) per year.
My multiple disabilities aren’t going anywhere. They will continue to worsen with highly processed foods being the only kind we can afford.
Yet no news source will cover this.
Eby should fix the corruption before filling the coffees… When public officials are so emboldened as to be intimidating regular people from access to the courts, giving them more money isn’t always the best.
Taxing these brackets hits most people with enough money to buy a home in Vancover.
If you make that kind of money you already pay a lot of taxes. At that point trying to earn more money is less effective then paying less taxes on what your already making.
Obvious solution is to leave. C ya big spenders, but hey look at all the $3MM houses up for sale.
On the other hand how does this work out for the economy when everyone that actually could afford to live their leave and its just social riders and hands out natives.
Bcers haven’t left….just Albertans returning to the nest. No drugs in Alberta?! Seems to me all the domestic shootings and murders are all Albertans who moved here.! He’s not giving away people’s land and it definitely doesn’t involve any Albertans who moved here thinking they own the joint.
Eby is akin to a Marxists. Give everything away and ask for more from those that make more than the average ‘joe’. Food insecurity is rampant and he drops a deuce on Pattison, the single largest philanthropist in BC, because he has to much money. The Greens are even worst suggesting they will tax your net worth. SO if you bought 5 cars that are worth ‘X’ and your house is worth ‘XX’ you will be taxed ‘XXX’ as a onetime payment and then a set rate thereafter. If the Greens want to know your net worth, they would require intrusive details of your assets. Very dangerous. The Greens will Never form Guberment but Eby is likely to steal the platform to appease the Left wing radicals that refuse to work for a living.
Does anyone actually think this guys has totally lost the plot? He’s giving away peoples property…
Besides making more addicts and feeding them with drugs and tools, he’s the reason our no fault insurance scam with ICBC happened. Wheres all the snipers when we need them
Don’t get sucked in for scabie ebys lies we need him out. He says he can save those millions on charging people that make over a million. Hes costing healthcare billions with his other stupid decisions. Look at all the addicts Iined up in hospitals or being saved by medics,cops,fireman, plus all the safe supplies. Hes the reason we’re in this mess
I hope he goes down in flames, moron!
Enough BCers left already. Time to get rid of this mess of a government!
While I agree with paying the fair share, wealth taxes are not a viable solution – tax the earnings, not what they hold. If you hit me for 10% of what I held, and then hit me for 2% every year after while still taxing my earnings at 40-55%, I’d establish my residence in some other province in a heartbeat…may still have a condo in Whistler or Vancouver, and keep my investments where they make the money, but officially, I’m from somewhere else and they can pound sand.
We’ve been demanding that the government tax the rich, but they are planning to also tax the middle class – people in the professional legal, small business and STEM level income brackets. They have also caught the property speculator and leisure class bracket above one million income, but as mentioned they have caught the doctors, lawyers and small business owners in the net at 190k.
Wasn’t it Margaret Thatcher who said that socialism works great until you run out of other peoples money?
Re. the NDP and Greens plan to tax wealthy people, there was an old saying…”Vote with your feet…”
Entrepreneurs will just vote with their feet and move out of BC and take their jobs with them…
Eby is going to make big business leave if he does
You sound like a bunch of women….complain complain complain!!!
So because the NDP have zero actual ideas and have called for an election no one asked for, they think making it a class war will save them?
Stop voting these people in. Smarten up.
If stupidity was wealth, David Eby would be called Elon Musk…
“Tax the rich” is always a desperation move by the commies….they’ll never do such a thing because “the rich” own them and your so-called “democracy”.
I don’t care about the long term effects on BC’a economy. I want Eby to tax everyone but me so that he can make sure i get my monthly gummint bon bons..
A total display of incompetence that costs BC so much. A total misunderstanding of how prosperity is built. Power hungry NDP, did not need an election but now is the time to through them OUT.
Shouldn’t the headline read “this week’s healthcare crisis”? Suggesting an infusion of money will “fix healthcare” is the standard ploy. However, after 60 years of greater thab cost of living budget increases the ‘crisis’ has only deepened with longer queues and worsened patient outcomes. At some point BCers (and Canadians in general) need to accept the inherently unsustainability of the system. Real reform is required. A reform you’ll never get with the likes of Eby
Remarkable. After Eby and crew change the rules on real estate development with their vacancy tax and short term rental shift he calls the investors greedy for losing tens of millions. He is a full on socialist class warrior leaning hard into govt interference and attempting to shame wealth creation. He must go.
There is zero defense for that level of ignorance.
It is not a discussion – its fraud.
The wealthy he intends to tax will up and leave, and there will be no windfall of taxes, just more failure.
It is petty, spiteful, ineffective, emotion baiting nonsense designed, maliciously, to fool the forever gullible.
A monkey with a necktie wrapped around his pecker could do a better job than Ebu and the NeoDestruction Party.
You’re not taxing the rich you’re just taxing higher skilled workers driving them away. Good for BC
The thing about really rich people is that they are not stupid and they have enough money to be mobile. All this will do is cause them to move out of the province and we’ll lose the tax revenue all together.
@ global news…when are you going to start letting people post pictures so the conservatives/ Albertans will know what people are saying?! Thanks
Hmmm…. IKEA founder, Ingvar Kamprad didn’t want to pay Sweden’s high taxes. So he moved to Switzerland, and spent 40 years there building his empire. He had to pay some tax in Switzerland, of course, but not the full freight he would have paid in Sweden. He made his views about Sweden’s high taxes known in the 1970s, and set up residence in Switzerland. Apart from age and family, one reason for his eventual return is Sweden’s now lower tax rates and reforms….just sayin’ what tax the rich may really mean there, Mr Eby… makes good headlines but will not help BC.
I think a politician’s income should be tied to their performance and voter satisfaction. In order for them to earn more, they should have to deliver on their promises, consult citizens, and make positive improvements, not just pointless changes. They should be paid a base annual income of 33,400, the same that I earn doing real work and come home each night at 2am covered in dried sweat with sore joints.
Good. Tax the rich, but make sure you’re not just taxing hard working Canadians that saved a lifetime for a nice property. Go after the real rich, the super millionaires and billionaires who are hiding their wealth overseas under numbered corporations and in the Bahamas.
Maybe Eby should find the money that his crony Dix lost, return it, then take his taxes and stick them up his @$$!
Whistler, Tofino, Sunshine Coast and the Gulf Islands homes need to be taxed for being empty and speculation ownership. These are the most expensive houses in our province. Guess who owns them?
Government proposes “taxing the rich” as a solution. Typical. How about you build some industry and quit giving away land. That’s a better plan.
Anyone with half a brain must see just that this guy Eby is a fraud and will not keep his election promises just as he failed to fulfill the last election promises. Do not trust this guy vote against him and the NDP if you want any chance of getting our province back from the ideologues that have almost destroyed it. Anyone but Eby should be the mantra.
This eBay is a sick and mental person . No brains , I hope he and the NDP get wiped out in this election
North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in North Van became a major disaster due to poor management, massive cost overruns and delays. Originally budgeted at $700 million, the project’s estimated cost skyrocketed to $3.86 billion. This financial disaster has triggered ongoing legal disputes, heavy tax hikes. Tell us again how Eby is going to build our way out of the housing crisis? How can anyone vote for this clown?
I’d rather have a good answer as to where $12billion went then another virtue signalling tax to the those who make money.
This insanity must stop..
Yes, I am voting conservatives.. if for no other reason to instill some respect and order to our lives.
I don’t know what the Conservatives will do but I know what Eby has done and will do again if he gets the chance. The man doesn’t keep election promises that was proven last election.
Today, and every day, 10 people will die as a result of waiting in line for medical attention to their ailments under his watch. Now, ” NOW ” he tells you he will ‘finally’ do ‘something’ about it. how could anyone with good conscience vote for this blood soaked man?
Being their only fan, I’m probably going to slash both my wrists after Eby and the NDP get their azzes handed to them on October 24.
Hey Eby. How about we raise taxes for politicians who lie. Remember your 1000 grocery benefit. Yeah somehow I don’t see you wanting to F Yourself so do it to others
Besides haying…. does anyone know what a conservative is good for? Besides church rallies and freedom convoys?
Great idea Davey! Let’s drive doctors and investors out of the province!
Divide and conquer why not stop spending money like fools
“things we choose to do together through government in … marking of our human solidarity” – Robert Nozick
I would like a low-tax, small government zealot to explain how the fire department can be privatized.
Hey Global, are you going to do a story on the fact they’re raising taxes for the $190K+ bracket, not just the $1 million club?????????
What Eby needs to do is tax the Albertans!!!! Can’t wait till the election is over and BC can get back to work and the conservatives can get back to their jobs at Walmart!
Nobody likes taxes. Do you like roads, hospitals and schools? Everybody likes what they are used for.
“Taxation is the price which we pay for civilization.”
Have you noticed no NDP supporters are coming forward with their comments why we should support them. All comments are against the NDP
I want to urge all Canadians to vote no to NDP, please lets not kill this province. The NDP do not have our best interest they only self serving out of control party. Pleases say no send them packing
your the one that caused this som called healthcare crisis
@ Ben
You go ahead and vote for that pinhead Eby. The rest of us will vote for a party that is rebuilding itself while it rebuilds the mess the NDP have made of this province.
I have to say, if there are all these plans they had to help us, or so they figure, why HAVEN’T THEY BEEN IMPLIMENTED AS A MATTER OF COURSE? WHY WAIT TILL AN ELECTION?
Im so sick of NDP manipulation. We promise to do what we should have been doing all along!!! What horsesh*t!
“Eby defends his plan to tax the rich as campaigns tackle health care crisis” Oh goody because NOW EBY can TAX ALL THOSE UNION MEMBERS WHO ALL GOT HUGE WAGE INCREASES this year, LOL, you know, all those NEW NDP MILLIONAIRES. AND paying for any kind of vaccines that are NOT 100% effective is nothing but a total waste of taxpayers money so you all better hope that never happens. No vaccine is 100% effective so you can still catch whatever it is you got the vaccine for. “No, vaccines are not 100% effective, but they significantly lower your risk of getting sick or developing severe illness.” IF you catch the illness you got the vaccine for AND this is not even 100% guaranteed either.
By all means tax the rich and eat the rich, but there is something called the law of diminishing returns. Can’t believe there is no choice but to vote for this guy. Should never have called an election!
Never interrupt the enemy when they’re making a mistake…
They’re distracting everyone with this attack on millionaires but in the meantime, people making $190,000 or more also get a tax increase. Next thing I know, my cardiologist moves away.
This is what happens when bc continuously vote for inexperience politicians to make decisions regarding the province meaning they foot the bill to be elected only in disguise of their on interests and hefty pay and pension for a few years, wonderful how this activist and others like him can live with themselves let alone there families
How are they going to attract more doctors when you’re increasing their tax bracket? (yes, it’s $190K not $1 million!)
And tomorrow it’s you!
This communist must be stopped!
Vote BC Conservative!
Eby said he wants to help seniors stay in there homes ,but raised the interest rate on the property tax deferment plan. I won’t vote for him because of that.
The NDP can’t run on their record because it’s horrible. All I’ve seen so far is attack ads against Con MLA’s and tax increase proposals. And where is my $1000 cheque from last election? Just throw in the towel now, Eby.
Income tax is being increased for anyone making $190,000, not $1M. At least tell the whole story.
A big F *UCK YOU to Eby, the NDP and anyone else (like commenter “Toby” below) who endorses this bull sh * t!!
The “rich” as you like to call them already pay proportionally more tax than everyone else. They cover your as*holes with tonnes of tax $$. Now we’re just going to screw people who are successfull?? F *uck you! That’s the whole idea behind tax brackets, you f *ucking morons! All this is going to do is drive away more business and investment and people like doctors and specialists and small businesses.
Shoot yourself, Eby!!
I think Eby had enough time to fix the health care that he messed up over the last few years. I feel bad for his great grand kids who will be paying for his promises that he decides to keep. I also plan to vote Conservative because he lied in the last election. No one got their 1000 grocery benefit. The bizarre thing is. He knew when he made the promise the books were bad and he knew it would not be a promise he could keep yet he still promised it.
If this is such a great idea how come it wasn’t done a year ago, that’s because it isn’t a great idea so Eby won’t do it just like other election promises he didn’t fulfill in the last election. Everyone knows that taxing really high incomes won’t generate the income needed so all tax brackets will have to go up. Maybe Eby shouldn’t have wasted so much taxpayers money on failed drug policies.
The rich CAN afford it and this is how it SHOULD be! Period. If they dont like it, then MOVE! Rich leeches.
It’s not $1 million, it’s anyone over $190K.
Global already shilling for the NDP?
So the forest industry is dead, manufacturing is dying and now you’re going to further drive out investment, investors, and successful businesses owners.
Socialism didn’t work out very well for the USSR did it?
Even Carney, a liberal, reversed the capital gains tax increase due its negative effects .
What Global isn’t telling you is, it isn’t just people making $1M or more they’re going to hit, the NDP are also slamming other tax brackets:
• $190,504 to $265,545:
• Rate rises from 16.8% to 18.8% (+2%)
• $265,545 to $1 million:
• Rate rises from 20.5% to 22.5% (+2%)
That’s a TONNE of people. Lots of small business owners, most doctors, professionals, and even many tradespeople. Lots of people that hire other people. This is a loser idea being brought to you by a loser political party, with a lying frontman who is getting more and more desperate by the day.
Vote the NDP OUT!
If Eby is going to raise the tax bracket for high earners, at least grant an exemption for health care workers?!
Communists gotta stop spending money they don’t have.