Fact check: Eby says a million more people have a family doctor. The count starts in 2018, and the province's own figures leave 1.175 million people without one

This is a fact check by the voche.me editors. Each figure is listed with its source at the end.

The campaign page of David Eby makes this claim about his record: "A million more people are connected to a family doctor."

We traced the number to its source and read what the source says around it.

Where the number comes from

The Ministry of Health published a release on September 16, 2026, six days before the election was called. Its headline is "One million people connected to primary care in B.C. since 2018".

Its first sentence reads: "One million people in British Columbia are now connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner since 2018."

Mr. Eby is quoted in the release. "Connecting one million more people to primary care shows that our plan is working, but we know there is more to do," he said.

The figure is the province's own count. The release does not explain how the count was made, and it names no outside audit.

Three things the campaign sentence leaves out

The count starts in 2018. Mr. Eby became premier on November 18, 2022, more than four years later. The release has no figure for his time as premier. It says: "Over the past three years, more than 700,000 people have been connected to a primary care provider."

The count includes nurse practitioners. The campaign page says "family doctor". Each time the release gives the figure, it says "family doctor or nurse practitioner". A nurse practitioner is a nurse with advanced training who can diagnose illness and prescribe medicine.

The release reports gains only. It counts people who were connected and gives no figure for people whose doctor retired or moved away in the same years. It also says the population of British Columbia grew 15 per cent between 2017 and 2025.

How many people have no family doctor

The release answers half of this question. It says: "4.47 million people, 80% of B.C.'s population, now have a primary care provider."

It gives no number for the other 20 per cent. The province's own budget report does the rest. The First Quarterly Report of September 14, 2026 uses a population of 5,645,000 for July 1, 2026.

5,645,000 minus 4,470,000 is 1,175,000. That subtraction is ours. By the province's two figures, 1.175 million people have neither a family doctor nor a nurse practitioner.

Lorne Doerkson, the interim Conservative leader, said on October 5 that "about 1.2 million people are still without a family doctor", as The Canadian Press reported. The province's figures support him.

A national health data organization gives a similar level of coverage. Daily Hive reported on October 24, 2024 that the Canadian Institute for Health Information found 82 per cent of British Columbians had a regular health care provider. The figure for Canada was 83 per cent.

The 2024 promise

In the 2024 election, Global News listed this BC NDP promise: "Match every British Columbian with a family doctor or nurse practitioner by 2025 through the Health Connect registry."

The Health Connect Registry is the province's list for people who are looking for a family doctor or nurse practitioner. Global News quoted Mr. Eby on October 15, 2024 giving a date, "by the end of 2025", when everyone on the registry would have access to one.

That date passed more than nine months ago. The September 16 release says: "As of September 2026, 323,000 people are registered with the Health Connect Registry." In April 2024, Global News reported that more than 310,000 people were registered and looking for a doctor.

Mr. Doerkson raised the same promise on October 5. The Canadian Press reported him saying the NDP had committed that "each British Columbian would have a family doctor by last year".

What can be said in his defence

A fair reader should consider three points.

The number of doctors grew faster than the number of people. The release says the number of family doctors who keep a regular list of patients rose 33 per cent while the population rose 15 per cent, and that the number of nurse practitioners tripled. These are the government's own figures.

Most of the million came in the last three years. More than 700,000 of the connections were made in that period, by the release's count. A provincial web page updated on September 21 says 4,000 people a week are matched through the registry.

Mr. Eby said more remains to be done. In the same release he said: "We won't stop until every British Columbian who wants a family doctor or nurse practitioner has one."

Our finding

The figure of one million is the province's count, and the campaign page repeats it without its two conditions. The count begins in 2018, and it includes nurse practitioners. More than 700,000 of the million came in the last three years.

The sentence also leaves out what the same government documents show. 1.175 million people have neither a family doctor nor a nurse practitioner. The date Mr. Eby gave in 2024 for everyone on the registry has passed, and 323,000 people are registered on it.

Read the sources below and decide for yourself. The BC NDP page lists the party's candidates. Election day is October 24, 2026.