Site C dam renamed after deceased B.C. premier John Horgan

Outgoing B.C. Premier John Horgan speaks during a question and answer session at a B.C. Chamber of Commerce luncheon on his last full day as premier of the province, in Vancouver, on Thursday, November 17, 2022. Horgan announced in June he would be stepping down as premier and NDP leader. His successor David Eby will be sworn in as premier on Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia is renaming the Site C hydro dam after deceased premier John Horgan, a project he didn’t support but allowed it to go ahead as costs ballooned.

• Related: Former B.C. premier John Horgan dies at 65

Premier David Eby announced the decision in Victoria surrounded by Horgan’s wife and family members.

Eby says it was a complicated decision to rename the dam after Horgan, and if he were alive today he wouldn’t have allowed anything to be renamed after him, joking that Horgan would have used much rougher language than dam.

Construction started on the dam in 2015 under the previous Liberal government, and when Horgan’s NDP took office two years later, he said the project was too far along to stop.

The dam on the Peace River became fully operational last year and cost $16 billion, nearly double the original estimate.

Eby says naming the John Horgan Dam and Generating Station reflects the nuance and the challenging decisions that confronted Horgan in his time, and is emblematic of Horgan’s willingness to consider the best interests of B.C. residents.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2026.