BC Health Coalition Wants Eby Government to Cancel its Sole Source Contract with Quest Diagnostics
a health advocacy group consisting of public sector unions and other leftist think tanks and labour groups wants BC Health to end its contract for diagnostic testing in BC with American-owned Lifelabs
“The BC Health Coalition is calling on the government to … fully integrate all outpatient lab services into the public, hospital-based system” — April 15, 2025
“Cancelling the province's contract with LifeLabs right now would cause significant delays in basic lab testing and put patients at risk," the ministry said. "It would also cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take resources away from frontline services elsewhere.” — BC Ministry of Health, via CBC
Okay. I have questions. Because of course I do, reader.
First of all reader, have you seen the wait times for health services in BC hospitals? The public system cannot handle its current workload. The growing demands on hospital system have brought our health care system to the brink of collapse.
Second, how does BC Health Coalition propose that the BC government, which recently had its credit rating downgraded, would manage the daunting task of absorbing a $1.6+ billion diagnostic infrastructure into the hospital system?
Third, how does the BC Health Coalition reason that pragmatism of forcing all British Columbians requiring diagnostic testing to visit a hospital? From an infection control perspective this seems foolish. Reader, we avoid hospitals unless we are practically dying because no one wants to visit a life-sized petrie dish and unwittingly pick up a nosocomial infection … do they?
Fourth, how does the BC Health Coalition practically propose that the BC government break its contracts with Quest Diagnostics to appease the left wing radical health advocacy consortium of mostly public sector unions and labour groups?
Cancelling the province's contract with LifeLabs right now would take resources away from frontline services elsewhere.
So, reader, the question becomes what does David Eby value more — feelings or humans? Hating America or Loving the people of British Columbia? We can surmise that Eby doesn’t care about British Columbians, because his policy track record speaks for itself. That’s a given. From his pro-Beijing stance, to his reliance on pro-CCP advisors, to his close relationship with the CCP-aligned Canada Committee 100 Society, to his long time support of damaging radical policies like extreme harm reduction and decriminalisation and elimination of involuntarily treatment, to his insistence that opposing gender indoctrination in schools equals hateful and far-right extremism — British Columbians know David Eby doesn’t care about them or their kids or their safety and prospects for the future or their democratic freedom.
Eby values his own Trump Derangement Syndrome anti-Americanism over the wellbeing and democratic freedom of British Columbians. Eby values his own concentration of power over the wellbeing of British Columbians and their freedom to make choices in their own lives. Bill 36 and Bill 7 tell the tale of a radical left-wing activist turned politician with a penchant for concentrating power to himself.
If his past actions as an activist and politician can provide us any clues at all, it doesn’t look good, reader. Eby has repeatedly demonstrated his pro-CCP political position, he favours Xi Jinping over Donald Trump. Reader, the anti-Americanism Eby exhibits looks like something from the Chinese Communist Party playbook. Not that long ago, I wondered in writing whether Eby had compromised himself, vis à vis the pro-PRC foreign interference network operating in Canada, with his close association to pro-CCP aligned individuals and groups.
Whilst most British Columbians, myself included, do not favour American companies operating healthcare services in Canada, we all know that issue of the sale of Lifelabs to Quest Diagnostics extends well beyond the controversy with Trump and tariffs and trade wars. Did the Eby government care about US companies delivering Canadian healthcare before Trump took office? Nah, reader, not really.
Also, reader, Lifelabs holds the sole source contract for laboratory services in BC and it’s Canadian company headquartered in Toronto, ON.
What’s this really about, then?
And, what about BC Health Coalition, reader? Does BC Health Coalition have an internal policy regarding utilising American products and services, or does it simply want to hold the BC government to a standard it does not meet. Reader, NationBuilder, a software platform created by an American tech company, powers the BC Health Coalition’s website. Perhaps it’s a small detail, and perhaps it’s symbolic of the progressive mentality, rules for thee and not for me. Obviously, it’s foolish for Canadian politicians or anyone in Canada to try to prevent the purchase of American products and the contracting of B2B services that use American products. We have intertwined economies, Canada and the USA. That’s my point here.
All that aside, Eby is a lawyer, and obviously familiar with contract law, not to mention the BC government likely has in-house lawyers knowledgeable about the legalities related to such matters. Despite my serious reservations, I have to think that Eby knows early termination of the contract with Lifelabs and Quest Diagnostics cannot take place. Ultimately this decision entails weighing pressure from his political circle and health advocacy groups and the public regarding the tariff/trade war with the US, US ownership of Canadian healthcare service delivery, and the ongoing labour dispute with Lifelabs against the costs of early termination, which includes high financial penalties, legal action, and operational disruptions, and even harms to patient care.
Before proceeding any further, let me say no one likes the optics of an American Fortune 500 company delivering sacred Canadian healthcare services. That’s a no-brainer, reader. Yet here we find ourselves, so we must cope and seethe.
But wait — is Lifelabs an American company, really?
According to a poll commissioned by the BCGEU 74 per cent of British Columbians oppose American companies running health services in the province.
Reader, let’s unpack this.
First of all, one could argue that Lifelabs Ltd is not an American company.
Reader, if you look at the screenshots above you will see that Lifelabs Ltd remains a Canadian corporation, it’s federally incorporated and the listing shows the company headquarters located in Toronto, ON. You can also see that LifeLabs Ltd retains the contract for laboratory services in British Columbia.
So, is this really an American Fortune 500 company delivering a Canadian healthcare service in Canada, or is this a Canadian company delivering a Canadian healthcare service in Canada? When it comes to delivery of the diagnostics services themselves, well, that’s administered by a Canadian company. Quest Diagnostics manages the IT side of things.
Okay, moving on to the matter at hand. Put aside the question of whether we can even call Lifelabs Ltd even an American company in this situation. Let’s talk about the BC Ministry of Health terminating its contracts with Quest Diagnostics.
First of all there’s the matter of reckless endangerment of public health leading to widespread harm related to operational disruption if the Eby government terminates the contract without a plan to replace the diagnostic services.
Next we have the matter of misfeasance, meaning deliberate misuse of public authority causing harm — terminating the contract with Quest for political gain or TDS-retaliation against Quest, knowingly violating its legal obligations to procurement laws and patient safety. While unlikely, given the government’s stated objectives regarding the tariff—trade war issue, the issue of risking healthcare by compromising an essential service would warrant scrutinising.
Then we have the matter of contract law, which applies to the BC government. Being the government does not give BC Health exemptions from legal liabilities. Could legislation? I don’t know. Possibly passing legislation that prohibits US firms from operating healthcare services could render the contract void. Also, what specific conditions does the contract between BC Health and Quest Diagnostics have for early termination?
Finally, can circle back to the beginning of this portion of the discussion. We have the matter of material reality — the BC Health Ministry contracts a company called Lifelabs Ltd for the delivery of laboratory services in British Columbia.
Cancelling the province's contract with LifeLabs right now would cause significant delays in basic lab testing and put patients at risk.
Reader, it’s apparent that early termination of these contracts would expose the taxpayers of BC to high financial costs, including expectations damages (lost profits and revenue expected from the remainder of the contract), reliance damages (costs related to equipment, infrastructure, and staffing), liquidated damages (this refers to any specified penalty for breach built into the contract). The costs for early termination could add up to upwards of many many millions of dollars. What about contracting in good faith? Doesn’t termination for woke ideological reasons and left-wing political gain seem like a bad faith move?
BC Health Coalition has long opposed privatisation of healthcare services—it’s a consortium of public sector unions advocating a fully public healthcare system with no outsourcing. That’s a bit of a conflict of interest and it’s a strong partisan bias. At this point it seems a like case of this advocacy group exploiting the Canada-US tariff/trade war + the left-wing populist rise of anti-American sentiment amongst British Columbians to promote one of its advocacy objectives — eliminating privatisation of healthcare in BC, with a view to communist-style centralisation.
Reader, let’s recap. Trump took office on January 7th of this year. Quest Diagnostics announced its intention to purchase Lifelabs from OMER six months prior to Trump taking office and four months before Trump won the presidential election — on July 3rd of 2024. Lifelabs Ltd retains its Canadian headquarters and management.
So, what does this mean, reader? Do we have a situation of an American company running a healthcare service in BC? No. Technically, we do not.