When Carson Binda and others at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation saw a picture posted online by Premier David Eby of a purple- and pink-wrapped truck handing out coffee to health care workers in the U.S. as part of a recruitment strategy, they thought, “How much is this costing?”
Binda’s organization aims to rein in government spending, so they filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out. It took months of wrangling and the eventual threat of legal action to force the province to provide the receipts.
As it turns out, the B.C. government spent $164,900 on 1,000 cups of coffee poured over two days.
“That’s an outrageous way to spend taxpayer money, at a time when the province is pinky promising that it’s looking for savings and tightening the belt,” Binda said.
B.C.’s latest projection is for the deficit to reach $13.3 billion this year, $12.1 billion the next, and $11.4 the year after. Since the latest budget was released on Feb. 17, two credit rating agencies have issued downgrade notices for the province.
Eby defended the program, pointing out that it costs about $350,000 to train a doctor domestically.
“It is probably the single most effective marketing initiative that our government has ever undertaken, for the cost of that promotion,” he said.
The money spent on this coffee truck is only a small portion of the $5 million used for the advertising campaign that began last June. Since then, more than 500 U.S. health-care workers have accepted offers to work in B.C.
Still, Eby called the coffee stunt “wildly successful” and pointed out that the truck was staffed not by baristas, but by B.C. health-care workers on an engagement mission.
“So, not only do I think it was great, but I think we should probably do it again,” he said.
Binda doesn’t think free coffee shifted the needle for any of the workers who chose to move to B.C.
“I don’t think anyone’s moving their family across the continent because of a $165 cup of coffee,” he said.
He would like to see the government use that money to ease permitting requirements for people transferring their credentials to the province, as part of a broader effort to cut red tape and the cost of doing business.
Interim B.C. Conservative Leader Trevor Halford said he supports recruitment efforts, but reckons there are better, more cost-effective ways.
“This makes no sense,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, it would have been for the minister to get in her car, go down and meet with graduating medical students at the University of Washington medical school.”