Burnaby Hospital Phase 2: The Contract Is Cancelled, but Eby Still Calls It “Re-Paced”
Burnaby Hospital Phase 2 was supposed to deliver a 160-bed inpatient tower and cancer-care centre. The province cancelled the construction contract and now asks the public to accept softer language.
Global News reported that the provincial government has cancelled the multi-party Alliance contract for Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment — the phase meant to add a new inpatient tower with 160 beds and a cancer-care centre. Budget 2026 had described the project as being “re-paced.” Hospital leaders and Burnaby officials are now dealing with something much harder than a calendar adjustment: a terminated construction contract and no confirmed start date.
The distinction matters. A delayed project keeps its delivery path intact. A cancelled contract pushes a major hospital expansion back into uncertainty. Global News reported that Burnaby Hospital Foundation president and CEO Kristy James said the hospital had been reassured the project was not cancelled, but that a terminated contract with no confirmed start date sounded like cancellation. The foundation also said the community had raised more than $55 million for the redevelopment.
Infrastructure BC’s own February 2026 release said the business case for Phase 2 was approved in 2023 and that the project was being developed within an approved budget of $1.8 billion. It also said the project proposed a new BC Cancer centre, acute care tower, medical imaging department and other hospital services. This was not a vague idea on a wishlist; it was a major approved health-care project with a selected proponent team.
The City of Burnaby’s May 7 update shows why the cancellation landed so badly. Mayor Mike Hurley wrote that Burnaby Hospital was built in 1952 for a population of 58,000 and now serves more than 500,000 people across Burnaby and East Vancouver, with demand expected to keep rising. The city said Burnaby’s acute-care bed ratio is far below the B.C. average and warned that without Phase 2 the hospital cannot meet current demand, let alone future regional need.
Premier David Eby may say the province remains committed. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma may call it re-pacing. But patients, donors and frontline staff need something more concrete: a protected budget, a new procurement path and a public construction start date.
This is the healthcare accountability problem in one file. The NDP promises capacity, announces historic spending, then retreats into euphemisms when fiscal pressure hits. A growing city does not get treated by press-release language. It needs beds, cancer care and construction that actually starts.
If Phase 2 is truly still alive, the province should publish the timeline now.