BC Conservatives argue Eby either incompetent or dishonest amid confusion over Musqueam agreement

BC Premier David Eby drew charges of incompetence or dishonesty from the interim Conservative leader on the Premier's earlier claims he attended a federal-Musqueam agreement signing ceremony without being briefed on the details of the agreement itself.Trevor Halford pressed Eby during oral questions in the BC legislature on March 3, 2026, demanding clarity on why the premier claimed no prior briefing about the February 20, 2026, agreements between Ottawa and the Musqueam Indian Band despite sitting front-row at the ceremony."We are to believe that the premier of this province just randomly walked into a signing ceremony and had zero idea what was going on? Give me an absolute break," Halford said."Either this is one of the highest levels of incompetency we've seen from this premier, or, even worse, he has chosen not to be upfront in this House or outside of this House on important issues when it comes to First Nations deals."Eby defended his presence at the Musqueam event saying he attended as the neighbouring MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey at the invitation of Chief Wayne Sparrow and was unaware of the deal's specifics until its public release."I didn't know the content of the agreements until they were released publicly by the federal government," Eby responded. "I wish we had been briefed in advance because we would have been able to clarify some of the comments made by the official opposition — that this was a land grab, that people didn't own their homes anymore in Metro Vancouver, all the kind of nonsense that they said.".The agreements include a rights recognition pact "gradually" affirming Musqueam Aboriginal title in a vast expanse of Metro Vancouver along with a marine management stewardship deal and a fisheries framework.Halford further grilled Eby on delayed amendments to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), passed in 2019 to align BC laws with the United Nations declaration.The BC government's adoption of DRIPA in 2019 resulted in then-attorney general Eby instructing the province's lawyers to abandon key but unsuccessful arguments — such as assertions that fee simple title overrides or extinguishes Aboriginal title — in the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General) BC Supreme Court case.That August 2025, ruling granted Aboriginal title to the Cowichan Tribes over roughly 800 acres within Richmond city boundaries, creating uncertainty for about 150 private property owners who have since expressed concerns over financing, plummeting property values and potential impacts on mortgages and assessments."When will he (the premier) make it a priority to actually table and defend the legislative changes that he has told the public that he will do with DRIPA? Give us a date," Halford asked.Eby reiterated his commitment to reconciliation but offered no specific timeline on substantive changes to the BC's government's reconciliation approach or DRIPA, adding: "I make no apologies about our government's bright lines on reconciliation."

BC Conservatives argue Eby either incompetent or dishonest amid confusion over Musqueam agreement

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