BC Today – Daily Report September 14, 2020

Quotation of the day

“We really didn’t want to do this.”

Dennis Adamson, the former vice-president of the BC NDP’s Fraser—Nicola riding association, says the association’s executive had no choice but to resign after party brass appointed First Nations lawyer Aaron Sumexheltza the party’s candidate in the riding.

Today in B.C.

On the schedule The house is adjourned for the summer.

Finance Minister Carole James is expected to announce the specifics of the $1.5 billion earmarked in March to aid economic recovery sometime this week.

Committees this week The Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Protection Act is scheduled to meet for “briefings” on Wednesday morning.

The Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth has a meeting set for Thursday morning; the agenda has yet to be determined.

Nearly $1 billion in pandemic relief funding yet to be allocated In the five months since the B.C. government announced $3.5 billion in pandemic relief spending, close to $1 billion has yet to be allocated, according to the latest report from the auditor general’s office.

Auditor General Michael Pickup — whose term began in July — emphasized that the information compiled by his office has not been audited but is meant to inform “a broad understanding of the financial aspects of the government's response to the pandemic.”

The report covers funding announcements made through August 18 and only covers allocations — not actual spending.

The auditor general’s office was able to account for $2.6 billion of the $3.5 billion earmarked in March to help individuals, services and businesses weather the pandemic but concluded that $880 million has yet to be assigned.

“We are really just pointing out that at that point in time the money had not yet been allocated,” Pickup said.

Liberal Economic Development critic Jas Johal said it was “absolutely appalling” that the NDP has been “hoarding money that could have kept people working and eased the stress on small business owners” as the pandemic persists.

“The big question is, why?” Johal mused in a statement. “It certainly looks like Horgan and the NDP are building a slush fund to spend during a snap fall election and that's completely unacceptable.”

Households soak up most of pandemic relief spending At $1.9 billion, relief spending for individuals and households in B.C. makes up the majority of the province’s relief spending so far.

Critical services received the second largest slice of the Covid-response pie at $642 million while just over $100 million has gone to B.C. businesses and industrial operations.

The lion’s share of B.C.’s business-related pandemic spending money — $79 million — is dedicated to commercial rent relief, but about half has yet to be spent, according to reporting from the Vancouver Sun.

The AG’s office also identified $203 million in spending by specific ministries “that might not have been undertaken if the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred.”

More than half of that spending — $105 million — went toward purchasing hotels to house homeless people; the United Way received $50 million to scale up its seniors support programs; and $3 million went to the BC Care Providers Association to launch Equip BC.

New Green Party leader to be announced today With speculation about a snap election running rampant, the next leader of the Green Party — who will be announced just after noon today — may have to hit the ground running.

Green Party MLA Sonia Furstenau, who represents the riding of Cowichan, is the presumptive frontrunner and was the first to throw her hat into the race. The Green house leader locked down a raft of endorsements, including from former federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, David Suzuki and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps.

Kim Darwin — a mortgage broker from the Sunshine Coast who ran for the Greens in 2017 — joined the race in early March. Cam Brewer, a lawyer and entrepreneur from Vancouver, announced his campaign just ahead of the July 27 registration deadline. He soon secured the endorsement of the BC Green Party’s former leader — independent MLA Andrew Weaver has served as a member of Brewer’s advisory committee.

Interim Green Party leader Adam Olsen welcomed the party’s next chapter in a final statement on Saturday.

“We have a lot more work to do before we see the results we want in our province,” he said. “We must continue to build off our success of the past three years as we’ve shown British Columbians how the BC Greens are necessary voices in this and future parliaments.”

Per Olsen’s statement, the party’s membership is now higher than it has ever been.

Today’s events

September 14 at 10 a.m. — Online Premier John Horgan will be joined by Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Kim Chi, vice-president and chief medical officer for BC Cancer, for an announcement about cancer care in B.C.

September 14 at 12 p.m. — Online The BC Green Party will announce its next leader.

September 14 at 3 p.m. — Online Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will provide an update on Covid in B.C.

Topics of conversation

● B.C. reported 132 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. There were 1,461 active cases (up 49) with 49 people in hospital (up seven), 10 of them critical (down four). No new deaths were reported, leaving the provincial total at 213. ○ A new outbreak was declared at Evergreen Hamlets long-term care facility in Fraser Health. In total, 14 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and three acute-care facilities are dealing with active outbreaks.

● Following the release of ICBC’s first quarter financials — which show the agency saved $327 million in claim costs between April and June — the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is once again calling out the Crown corporation for not passing its savings on to drivers. ○ “If ICBC won’t provide a rebate or premium relief to BC drivers, it’s time they were able to buy their auto insurance from a company that will,” the insurers’ group said in a statement. ○ ICBC said it doesn’t expect lower claim costs to continue in its next quarter because they were linked to fewer vehicles on the road when people were heeding stay-at-home advice.

Election 2021: Nominations and departures

NDP ● Another NDP nomination race is shaping up in Victoria—Beacon Hill, the riding long held by Finance Minister Carole James, who is not seeking re-election. NDP staffer Stephanie Papik has announced her intention to run for the nomination; so has Grace Lore, a political science lecturer and researcher at the University of Victoria.

● Surrey—Panorama MLA Jinny Sims is the latest incumbent New Democrat to confirm she will run for re-election. ○ First elected in 2011, Sims served as citizen services minister before resigning her cabinet post in October 2019 pending the results of an unspecified RCMP investigation. The investigation eventually concluded the mysterious allegations against Sims were unfounded.

● The NDP’s entire Fraser—Nicola riding association resigned on Friday following the nomination of Aaron Sumexheltza against the association’s will, the Vancouver Sun reports. The association says party brass ensured Sumexheltza’s appointment. ○ “It is obvious that the BC NDP under Craig Keating’s and Raj Sihota’s leadership does not respect the democratically elected voices of the Fraser-Nicola NDP membership or the needs of those who live outside the Lower Mainland,” the executive’s resignation letter reads. ○ Keating said Sumexheltza was the only candidate to apply for the nomination.

News briefs

New approach to old-growth management ● The “first step” for B.C.’s long-awaited old-growth management strategy will defer logging operations in nine areas covering more than 350,000 hectares — almost three-quarters of it in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. ○ The expert report released Friday includes immediate, near-term and long-term actions to manage B.C.’s remaining old growth, with an emphasis on preserving biodiversity. ○ The province has pledged to work with Indigenous groups to identify other areas for protection and develop management policies. Consultations will also be held to inform the future of old-growth forests in B.C. with an eye to how the changes will impact local communities. ○ Critics say too much old growth is being left open to logging and that the logging deferral “lacks clear steps” to aid the forestry industry’s transition to second growth harvesting and management.

Province approves plastic bag bylaws, expands recycling options ● Local governments will soon have the power to ban single-use plastics as the province moves forward with action to address plastic waste. Richmond, Victoria, Saanich, Tofino and Ucluelet have all proposed or passed bylaws banning plastic bags and other single-use plastics, but the BC Court of Appeal struck down Victoria’s ban in July 2019, ruling that the city did not have the authority to implement it. ○ The province is also looking into expanding recycling programs for single-use plastic products via industry-funded residential recycling programs, including plastic cutlery, sandwich bags, stir sticks and other items. ○ A minimum 10-cent deposit will be implemented on all beverage containers, which will include milk and milk-alternative containers.

Funding announcements

● Premier John Horgan announced a three-year $30.7-million project to improve the safety of Bamfield Road. The province will cover $25.7 million of the project’s expected

cost, and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations will contribute the additional $5 million for the project as well as in-kind resources such as gravel. The Huu-ay-aht will manage the project with technical support from Urban Systems. ○ The road is the main transportation link between Port Alberni and the communities of Bamfield and Anacla. The project is the result of a working group formed in September 2019, following a fatal bus crash that took the lives of two University of Victoria students.

● The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction detailed some projects that benefited from the Community Employer Partnerships program during the 2019-20 fiscal year. ○ Up to 40 people have access to an online hospitality industry training program at Okanagan College made available with $611,000 in CEP funding. ○ In New Westminster, Growcery Food Network Society will use $329,000 from CEP’s Job Creation Partnerships stream to build a therapeutic garden. Participants will learn carpentry, joinery, landscaping and gardening as they help construct the garden as well as certifications in forklift, backhoe and scissor-lift operation.

BC Today is written by Shannon Waters, reporting from the British Columbia Legislative Press Gallery.

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