VICTORIA, B.C.: The B.C. Conservatives fought Premier David Eby’s PST hike and won a major victory, forcing the NDP to finally back down and announce a suspension. But the suspension doesn’t go far enough: the PST increase must be scrapped permanently.
In the 2026 provincial budget, the NDP announced it would expand the PST to professional services including accounting, architecture, engineering, geoscience, security, real estate and property management. The tax hike was set to take effect October 1, despite widespread opposition from businesses and British Columbians.
The B.C. Conservatives fought the tax hike from the start, and the NDP has finally caved. Today Eby tried to take credit for backing away from a tax hike his own NDP government created. The B.C. Conservatives are committed to repealing the PST tax hike once and for all.
“The suspension of the PST expansion will provide some temporary relief for British Columbians, but the threat of its return under the NDP remains,” said Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. “Our economy is in dire straits under the NDP, and David Eby won’t give up a tax hike when his government needs every dollar it can get now that the deficit has ballooned even further to $13.8 billion. I reiterate my call to scrap the PST expansion for good.”
“We fought from day one to spike the hike, and it paid off – the PST expansion has been paused,” said Gavin Dew, Shadow Minister for Finance. “It was our B.C. Conservative MLAs who pushed the Finance Committee to recommend scrapping the PST hike. Today, the NDP found a convenient way to wriggle out of its massively unpopular tax increase by suspending it. But pausing the tax hike isn’t good enough. It must be scrapped for good. Businesses have already endured months of uncertainty, and they need to know the government won’t bring it back after an election. Make no mistake: David Eby made this decision for political expediency, not for British Columbians, as he prepares for an opportunistic snap election.”
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