B.C. Premier Eby defends coffee-with-doctors recruitment after ‘stunt’ accusation

KELOWNA — British Columbia Premier David Eby is praising the jolt the province got from a campaign to attract doctors over a cup of coffee despite criticism of wasteful spending from a national taxpayers group.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says B.C. spent $165,000 on a “stunt” for a coffee truck where 1,000 drinks were handed out to health-care workers in the United States, the equivalent of $164 per cup.

Eby says the coffee truck was staffed by Canadian health-care workers who were engaging with U.S. health workers outside of hospitals in cities along the U.S. West Coast.

He says the move was “probably the single most effective marketing initiative” the government has ever had and the province hired more than 500 American health-care workers to come to B.C.