BURNABY — Dozens of protesters carrying placards gathered in a park in Burnaby, B.C., to rally against the provincial government’s cancellation of a construction contract for a hospital expansion in the city.

Premier David Eby said earlier in May that plans for the Burnaby Hospital expansion aren’t dead despite the provincial government’s announcement that the contract had been cancelled.

Phase 2 of the hospital expansion project was slated to add 160 beds and a cancer care centre, but it has become one of several projects that the province placed on hold in its 2026 budget.

David Xie, spokesman for Buranby neighbourhood watch, says despite Burnaby being the third largest city in B.C., residents don’t have a “fully-functioning modern hospital,” forcing many locals to travel to other cities for their health-care needs.

For instance, Xie says his family experienced an emergency last year, when his son hit his head, which wouldn’t stop bleeding, and the Burnaby Hospital’s waiting time was the longest compared to other hospitals, forcing him to drive to a different city for care.

But Xie says many families in Burnaby don’t have cars, and having more beds can address many local patients’ urgent needs.

Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma said early in May that the projects were “re-paced or rescheduled” since they needed more work before they could proceed to construction.

Langley-Walnut Grove MLA Misty Van Popta, who is also the shadow critic for infrastructure, says it was recently discovered that the project wasn’t only placed on hold, but the province had also cancelled all associated contracts.

Popta says Burnaby is one of the lowest-funded hospitals in the province, and the “particular cut to the budget should not have ever taken place.”

The B.C. government announced during the budget in February that it would slow down several health construction projects as it struggled with a deficit projected to balloon to $13.3 billion.

Ma said in a statement on Sunday that she wants to assure people the project remains within the province’s capital plan and will move forward.

Xie says residents deserve to have more clarity on when the project will proceed.

Popta says she understands the province’s stance is that the project isn’t cancelled, instead, it’s being re-paced.

“But re-pacing would indicate that there’s an associated timeline to start, and there isn’t, and so when you cancel contracts and there’s no restart date, you are cancelling a project. It is now back to just being a concept,” said Popta.