Business
Jobs Critic says NDP government lied to British Columbians and sold out Canadian workers in billion dollar Chinese ferries purchase
Harman Bhangu, BC Conservatives’ Critic for Jobs & Economic Development, says the leaked Seaspan report proves the NDP hid the truth about BC’s shipbuilding capacity.
On July 15, BC Conservative MLA Harman Bhangu, Opposition Critic for Transportation, warned that the BC Ferries deal with China was more than a bad contract — it was a betrayal. He said local shipyards were capable of building those vessels right here in British Columbia, and that the NDP government was selling out BC workers.
Now, the leaked Seaspan report proves he was right.
“Turns out everything I said back in July was true,” Bhangu posted on X. “The leaked Seaspan report confirms we could have built our own ferries right here at home, creating thousands of good-paying jobs for tradespeople, suppliers, and local businesses. More importantly, it would have injected billions into BC’s economy and helped rebuild our shipbuilding industry for the next generation. The NDP ignored the report, lied to workers, and lied to British Columbians. They knew the truth, buried it, and sold out BC workers anyway. That says everything.”
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The report, quietly commissioned by Seaspan in 2023 and shared with government officials months before BC Ferries signed with China Merchants Industry (Weihai), outlines exactly what could have been done at home. It details how British Columbia had the capacity, the workforce, and the industrial base to build the four hybrid vessels locally. By doing so, it estimates, the province could have supported nearly 10,000 jobs, generated over $1.1 billion in local economic activity, and brought in $234 million in provincial tax revenue. Instead, those billions are now headed offshore to a Chinese state-owned yard.
Bhangu told The Opposition what he learned firsthand from shipbuilders long before the leak:
“Back in July, I visited Seaspan and spoke with people directly involved in shipbuilding here in BC. They told me that in 2021, under John Horgan, there was a shipbuilding strategy that laid out a roadmap for building vessels right here in the province, not just repairing or servicing them. But when David Eby took over, that plan was effectively buried. The focus was quietly shifted from shipbuilding to a ‘parts and repairs’ model, which meant the real economic opportunity actually constructing ships here was lost. The report that’s come out confirms exactly what I was told: BC yards could compete, they wanted to compete, and they were capable of doing the work. The only thing standing in their way was a procurement process that was rigged against them from the start.”
That’s the heart of the scandal: the NDP and the Canada Infrastructure Bank used $1 billion in taxpayer financing to bankroll Beijing’s shipbuilding industry while telling British Columbians their own yards “lacked capacity.” They didn’t. The leaked document shows the government knew it… and buried it anyway.
Bhangu isn’t mincing words. He says this isn’t just about ferries; it’s about sovereignty. “We’ve exported jobs, tax revenue, and security to a foreign power,” he said. “And the government did it knowingly.”
The Political Fallout
Premier David Eby and the BC NDP maintain that local shipyards “lacked capacity” to deliver the four new hybrid ferries on time and on budget. But the leaked report contradicts that defense.
Bhangu and other Conservative MLAs are now calling for the full document to be made public and for an independent inquiry into how the decision was made.
As Bhangu put it, “This isn’t just about ferries — it’s about sovereignty, jobs, and honesty. The government buried the truth because it didn’t fit their narrative.”
So what do we have here? A government that knew the truth, hid the evidence, and handed over a billion taxpayer dollars to a foreign state-owned yard while pretending BC couldn’t do the job. They buried a plan that would have put thousands of our tradesmen to work and pumped billions into our own economy because the optics of standing up for BC were too inconvenient. That isn’t leadership. And if this province still means anything to the people running it, someone in Victoria should have to answer for that.
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From the Daily Caller News Foundation
You’ve probably heard by now the blockbuster news that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the richest people to ever walk the planet, has had a change of heart on climate change.
For several decades Gates poured billions of dollars into the climate industrial complex.
Some conservatives have sniffed that Bill Gates has shifted his position on climate change because he and Microsoft have invested heavily in energy intensive data centers.
AI and robotics will triple our electric power needs over the next 15 years. And you can’t get that from windmills.
What Bill Gates has done is courageous and praiseworthy. It’s not many people of his stature that will admit that they were wrong. Al Gore certainly hasn’t. My wife says I never do.
Although I’ve only once met Bill Gates, I’ve read his latest statements on global warming. He still endorses the need for communal action (which won’t work), but he has sensibly disassociated himself from the increasingly radical and economically destructive dictates from the green movement. For that, the left has tossed him out of their tent as a “traitor.”
I wish to highlight several critical insights that should be the starting point for constructive debate that every clear-minded thinker on either side of the issue should embrace.
(1) It’s time to put human welfare at the center of our climate policies. This includes improving agriculture and health in poor countries.
(2) Countries should be encouraged to grow their economies even if that means a reliance on fossil fuels like natural gas. Economic growth is essential to human progress.
(3) Although climate change will hurt poor people, for the vast majority of them it will not be the only or even the biggest threat to their lives and welfare. The biggest problems are poverty and disease.
I would add to these wise declarations two inconvenient truths: First: the solution to changing temperatures and weather patterns is technological progress. A far fewer percentage of people die of severe weather events today than 50 or 100 or 1,000 years ago.
Second, energy is the master resource and to deny people reliable and affordable energy is to keep them poor and vulnerable – and this is inhumane.
If Bill Gates were to start directing even a small fraction of his foundation funds to ensuring everyone on the planet has access to electric power and safe drinking water, it would do more for humanity than all of the hundreds of billions that governments and foundations have devoted to climate programs that have failed to change the globe’s temperature.
Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity and a former Trump senior economic advisor.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
At Tesla’s Austin headquarters, investors backed Musk’s 12-step plan that ties his potential trillion-dollar payout to a series of aggressive financial and operational milestones, including raising the company’s valuation from roughly $1.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion and selling one million humanoid robots within a decade. Musk hailed the outcome as a turning point for Tesla’s future.
“What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla but a whole new book,” Musk said, as The New York Times reported.
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The decision cements investor confidence in Musk’s “moonshot” management style and reinforces the belief that Tesla’s success depends heavily on its founder and his leadership.
Tesla Annual meeting starting now
https://t.co/j1KHf3k6ch— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2025
“Those who claim the plan is ‘too large’ ignore the scale of ambition that has historically defined Tesla’s trajectory,” the Florida State Board of Administration said in a securities filing describing why it voted for Mr. Musk’s pay plan. “A company that went from near bankruptcy to global leadership in E.V.s and clean energy under similar frameworks has earned the right to use incentive models that reward moonshot performance.”
Investors like Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood defended Tesla’s decision, saying the plan aligns shareholder rewards with company performance.
“I do not understand why investors are voting against Elon’s pay package when they and their clients would benefit enormously if he and his incredible team meet such high goals,” Wood wrote on X.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management — one of Tesla’s largest shareholders — broke ranks, however, and voted against the pay plan, saying that the package was excessive.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” the firm said.
The vote comes months after Musk wrapped up his short-lived government role under President Donald Trump. In February, Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team sparked a firestorm when they announced plans to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development, drawing backlash from Democrats and prompting protests targeting Musk and his companies, including Tesla.
Back in May, Musk announced that his “scheduled time” leading DOGE had ended.
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