B.C. Premier David Eby defended the use of imagery from the Second World War in his government's Speech from the Throne.
Speaking to reporters after Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia delivered the session's opening Speech from the Throne, Eby said the threat of tariffs and annexation by the United States is a moment that requires unity across the various groups in society, from business to labour to First Nations.
"This is what we need at this moment," Eby said. "(Regardless) of whether your house is bombed or whether you are foreclosed from it because you are fired (because of tariffs) makes very little difference to a family," Eby said. "This feels to British Columbians and to Canadians and I think rightly so, like an unprovoked attack and we are facing continual threats to our sovereignty from the President of the United States..."
The speech, which never mentioned U.S. President Donald Trump by name, described B.C. as standing at a crossroad and facing the "most consequential moment" since the Second World War. Several other passages also drew parallels with the fight against fascism more than 80 years ago.
Eby said his government needs to be "very light" on its feet in responding to the threatened tariffs should they come into effect.
"You don't know what (President Donald Trump) is going to say next, what the next target will be or what the supposed justification for those actions will be," he said.
Ultimately, tariffs will define this session, Eby said.
"It is the issue of primary concern for so many British Columbian and Canadian families and it is our concern too and it is our focus."
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad, meanwhile, questioned Eby's rhetoric in noting that the United States has yet to impose tariffs and accusing Eby of wrapping himself in the Canadian flag.
"David Eby is looking for an enemy," Rustad said. "He is looking for an excuse. He wants to be able to blame somebody for his failures," which include running up a deficit of $9.5 billion, he said.
Rustad also questioned whether government would be able to follow through on its promises to speed up resource projects and questioned the lack of financial relief for British Columbians.
"They were expecting some to see some tax relief and that obviously is not coming from a premier who lied to people," Rustad said. "People need relief. People are are struggling."
Rustad was referring to last week's cancellation of government's promised rebate of $1,000 for 90 per cent of households. Government announced the cancellation last week, citing the potential effects of the pending tariffs as justification.
The speech said that keeping everyday costs low for working families will continue to be a top priority in promising to lock in "savings on car insurance and putting money back into people鈥檚 pockets" without giving additional details.
Eby said government knows that British Columbians need relief but the tariff threat has created a fundamental change.
"The major threat to that right now is a weak Canadian dollar as a result of the tariff threat that we face," he said. "We need to diversify our markets and ensure that we are growing our economy...so that will be our dominant focus going forward," Eby said. "That's our best way to ensure that we are delivering for British Columbians in this moment."
B.C. Greens, meanwhile, offered a mixed reaction to the speech. A party statement praised government for "recognizing the urgent challenges facing British Columbians" but added that recognition alone is not enough. It added that B.C. has been facing multiple, overlapping crises for years long before U.S. tariff threats surfaced.
"It's easy to employ wartime analogies in face of a fresh, headline-grabbing crisis, but a government with a real vision for the future needs to be laser focused on delivering results to all the longstanding crises British Columbians are facing,鈥� Jeremy Valeriote, Interim Leader of the B.C. Greens and MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, said. 鈥淲e are in this situation because we didn鈥檛 look far enough ahead, so we need a plan that delivers long-term stability and security for British Columbians and it must benefit people first rather than corporations."
UBC political science lecturer Stewart Prest said the war imagery shows government is clearly focused on the U.S.
"Everything is viewed through that lens," Prest said. "The (war) imagery makes it clear just how seriously, they are taking those threats and, in theory, the level of social mobilization and transformation that may be necessary to respond."
