BC – British Columbia’s NDP government has once again demonstrated breathtaking contempt for public money, spending $165,000—or roughly $165 per cup—on just 1,000 cups of coffee during a two-day “recruitment” stunt in Seattle in June 2025.
Documents obtained through a hard-fought Freedom of Information request by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation reveal the full scope of the waste: a branded coffee truck, thousands of branded cups and napkins, a prime location near health-care facilities, and approximately 10 consultants on hand to serve the overpriced brew and hand out pamphlets.
The stunt, part of a larger U.S. recruitment drive, was enthusiastically promoted by the province. Health Minister Josie Osborne described it as “engaging directly with health-care workers” over a cup of coffee to highlight “the many benefits of working in our beautiful, welcoming province.” Premier David Eby and his government positioned the gimmick as a clever way to lure American doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals north to address B.C.’s ongoing staffing shortages.
Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, didn’t hold back: “Eby dreamed up the most expensive way imaginable to hand out free coffee.” He added that the invoices show the province spent $165,000 delivering 1,000 cups to health-care workers in the United States. “That works out to about $165 per cup of coffee.”
Binda noted the government and third-party contractors “fought tooth and nail” to keep the documents hidden from taxpayers, only releasing them after intervention by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The province has defended the broader campaign, claiming it has led to hundreds of U.S. health-care workers being hired overall. Yet the coffee truck itself produced no publicly disclosed evidence of direct hires or even a meaningful number of serious applications tied specifically to the $165,000 latte spectacle.
This episode comes as B.C. families struggle with high living costs, strained health-care services, and a provincial government that continues to rack up debt. While the NDP touts expressions of interest and eventual hires from a multi-million-dollar recruitment effort, the coffee stunt stands as a glaring symbol of misplaced priorities—performative optics funded by the very taxpayers whose hospitals remain understaffed.
As Binda put it, no one is uprooting their life and moving across the border because they got a free cup of government-branded coffee. British Columbians deserve accountability, not another expensive photo-op disguised as innovation. The only thing this stunt successfully recruited was widespread public outrage.
