BC Today – Daily Report January 24, 2020

Quotation of the day

“As frustrated as everyone.” ​

With just six applications approved after four months of review, Transportation Minister Claire ​ Trevena says she isn’t impressed with the Passenger Transportation Board’s pace of approving ​ ride-hailing licences.

Today in B.C.

Uber, Lyft get green light to operate in B.C. while taxi-backed Kater is denied After months of waiting, Uber and Lyft had their ride-hailing license applications for Region 1, the Lower Mainland and Whistler, approved by the BC Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) yesterday.

“The PTB’s approval is one of the final steps before Uber is able to start providing reliable, safe, affordable rides in Metro Vancouver,” Michael van Hemmen, who heads Uber’s operations in ​ ​ Western , said in a statement.

In the meantime, drivers with the required Class 4 licence can sign now on with Uber “so they can start earning money as soon as operations begin.” Lyft has also opened “driver hubs” in Surrey, Richmond and Vancouver and partnered with a local driving school to help interested drivers obtain the required Class 4 commercial licence.

Ride-hailing companies are able to “immediately purchase insurance from ICBC,” according to the provincial auto-insurer, as soon as they provide confirmation of their authorization by the PTB. The City of Vancouver immediately approved business licences for both companies. ​ ​

While municipalities in the Metro Vancouver area are currently taking individual approaches to licensing for ride-hailing companies, the Metro Vancouver Mayors’ council approved a plan to ​ ​ have TransLink develop an intermunicipal business licence last month. An interim licensing regime could be in place before the end of January with a permanent system expected by the end of the year.

Two thumbs-up, two thumbs-down The PTD turned down licensing applications from two other companies: ReRyde, a Richmond-based company that applied to operate on Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan region, and Kater, the Vancouver-based company that linked licensed taxi drivers with customers via app.

Kater, which first launched in the spring of 2019, ceased operations in December as it awaited ​ ​ the processing of its ride-hailing licence application.

It applied to operate in all parts of the province, but the PTB had concerns about its business plan.

“The Board finds Kater’s business plan commitments and its 36-month cash projections are incongruous and unrealistic,” the decision says. “The services it says it will provide and the ​ ​ stakeholder relationships it intends to build do not align with its financial information.”

While Kater proposed paying drivers at least $25 per hour and including 250 to 300 accessible vehicles in its fleet, it provided “no information” as to how it would support those proposals, according to the board’s decision

A four-month break-even projection proffered by the company was met with skepticism by the PTB — by contrast, Uber expects its B.C. operations to become profitable within three years. ​ ​

In an afternoon news conference, Transportation Minister said the NDP ​ ​ government’s slow and steady approach to bringing ride-hailing services to B.C. means “[those] who are using ride-hailing can be confident that B.C.’s framework is among North America’s safest.”

The PTB will be monitoring how ride-hailing drivers are compensated “very closely,” according to Trevena. Last month, B.C’s Labour Relations Board agreed to hear a challenge put forward ​ ​ by UFCW Local 1518, alleging that the contracts Uber and Lyft offer drivers contravene provincial labour laws.

Trevena said the province is committed to a passenger transportation industry that “ensures a sustainable livelihood for drivers.”

In other jurisdictions, Uber and Lyft have slashed wages for drivers, leading to strikes.

Ride-hailing rollout slow, uneven In the short-term, ride-hailing is set to be restricted to the Lower Mainland and the resort towns of Whistler and Tofino — WhistleRide, whose ride-hailing licence was approved in December, will launch operations in those areas next month. ​

Since applications opened in October, the PTB has processed six of 29 ride-hailing licence applications it received.

But Trevena said the service is coming to other areas of the province soon, adding the PTB is still processing 20 applications including more than a dozen on Vancouver Island.

“I know people were frustrated — I know people wanted it immediately,” Trevena said of public demand for the service. “I was as frustrated as everyone in the time it seems to be taking.”

But rather than blame the board or the current government, Trevena suggested the fault for the creeping arrival of ride-hailing lies with the former Liberal government.

“You’d have to ask the previous government why five years were wasted — Uber was around in 2012,” Trevena told reporters.

Price gap between illegal and legal cannabis widened in 2019: Statistics Canada The average price for a gram of cannabis in Canada — whether legal or illegal — was $7.50 in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Statistics Canada. ​ ​

That price has held relatively steady since legalization, but since then the legal and illegal cannabis markets have diverged sharply. While the average cost for a gram of legal cannabis has increased by six per cent since legalization, the average price of a gram of illegal cannabis has dropped by 12 per cent.

Statistics Canada relies on consumer reporting for its figures on cannabis pricing, so its data is

self-selected and the sample size is small (and shrunk over the course of last year), relying on 248 plausible submissions received in 2019.

In the last quarter of 2019, a gram of illegal cannabis cost, on average, a little less than half of what customers were paying to buy legal products.

Legal cannabis pricing varies widely by province — on the high end, New Brunswick’s average price per gram was $11.36 while Quebec’s was $7.88. In most provinces legal cannabis prices fell between $10.25 and $11 per gram.

Illegal cannabis prices saw less of a spread, ranging from $4.90 in New Brunswick — where the government is looking for a private company to take over cannabis sales — to $6.21 in Ontario. ​ ​

In B.C., the overall average per gram price was $6.90 at the end of 2019, and the province has the second lowest gap between its legal and illegal markets with illegal cannabis selling for an average of $3.37 less per gram than legal product.

That still leaves the NDP government, whose stated goal is to squeeze out B.C.’s robust black market over time, with a considerable price gap to bridge.

There’s also a gender gap between Canada’s illegal and legal cannabis markets with more than twice as many men as women reporting purchases from illegal sources.

Today’s events

January 24 at 8:30 a.m. — Vancouver ​ ​ Finance Minister will be the keynote speaker at the BC Chamber of Commerce’s ​ ​ Cabinet Minister Breakfast Series event at Chambar Restaurant.

January 24 at 10 a.m. — Vancouver ​ ​ Minister of State for Trade (Vancouver—Fraserview) and Vancouver Mayor ​ ​ Kennedy Stewart will join representatives of the Fair Haven Homes Society to celebrate the ​ opening of a new affordable rental housing project at 6465 Vivian Street.

January 24 at 10:30 a.m. — New Westminster ​ Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy, who represents New Westminster, will join ​ ​ Mayor Jonathan Coté and project partners for an affordable rental housing announcement for ​ ​ women and children at 630 Ewen Avenue.

Weekend events

January 25 at 6:30 p.m. — Richmond ​ ​

BC Liberal MLA Linda Reid (Richmond South Centre) will host her annual Robbie Burns Dinner ​ ​ and Single Malt Whisky Tasting at the Mayfair Lakes Golf and Country Club.

January 26 at 2 p.m. — Sidney ​ ​ The BC Green Party’s Saanich North and the Islands riding association will host its annual general meeting at the Mary Winspear Centre.

Topics of conversation

● As bargaining between the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the province approaches the one-year mark, a leaked internal memo, acquired by Global News, ​ ​ ​ ​ shows the BCTF mapping out a series of escalating responses — including a provincewide teachers’ strike — should mediated negotiations fail. “The BCTF remains fully committed to the Labour Relations Board mediation process,” the federation said in ​ ​ response to reporting on the memo. “There can be no strike vote, job action, or lockout by the employer while that process continues.” ○ The BCTF and the BC Public School Employers’ Association have yet to meet this year, and the federation rejected recommendations put forward by moderator David Schaub in November. ​ ​

● BC human rights commissioner Kasari Govender responded to the open letter ​ ​ ​ ​ published by the First Nations LNG Alliance earlier this week, clarifying that she “unreservedly” acknowledges that many elected band councils along the Coastal Gaslink pipline’s route have signed onto the project. “Human rights do not exist for the majority, they exist for each individual and in the case of free, prior, and informed consent for each Indigenous rights holding group,” Govender said. “Indeed, human rights are the hardest to guarantee for those who find themselves in an unpopular minority, but this is when our commitment to human rights principles are truly tested.”

● Media outlets in B.C. need to “put down their pompoms and do their job” when it comes ​ ​ to reporting on ride-hailing companies, according to a “Kudos and Kvetches” item in the Vancouver Courier. “What troubles us is the continued blurring of traditional lines ​ between journalism and PR,” the Courier argues. “It’s not the job of journalists to cheer ​ ​ on corporations and promote their business interests — it’s journalists’ job to cover them fairly and with a critical and objective eye. Banging the drum for them and gushing over their arrival is tantamount to providing free advertising.”

● The current NDP government is doing so well, according to a Globe and Mail editorial, ​ ​ ​ ​ that it might make sense to call an early election. “The NDP government has surprised, and in doing so has laid to rest memories of the 1990s, and rebutted the old attacks on the party’s fiscal acumen,” per the opinion piece. “That’s a big reason why it wouldn’t be a surprise if Mr. Horgan were to capitalize by calling an early election.”

○ The editorial notes that while the current government has benefitted from “good economic fortune,” it has also “acquitted [itself] well in government” by maintaining a balanced budget while investing in infrastructure and housing, tackling money-laundering and “reform[ing] the province’s Wild West political financing.” ○ The next general election is scheduled for October 2021.

● Nexii Building Solutions Inc. plans to open its first full-scale production plant in Squamish with development kicking off immediately and operations expected to begin later in the ​ year. The plant will produce the company’s “proprietary material Nexiite” — billed as a “sustainable, cost-efficient, durable” substance that can produce “disaster-resilient buildings” — and employ 150 people in full-time positions in “manufacturing, construction, building information modeling and engineering.” ○ Earlier this week, the company announced the hiring of former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson as its executive vice-president of strategy and partnerships. ​

● Yesterday, B.C.’ chief forester Diane Nicholls announced a 10 per cent reduction in the ​ ​ ​ ​ annual allowable cut for the Cascadia timber supply area (TSA), which is assigned to BC Timber Sales. A total of 356,230 cubic metres can be harvested across the TSA’s ​ 316,000 hectares this year, per the new allowable cut. ○ The Cascadia TSA covers 11 timber-supply blocks — each with their own assigned portion of the allowable cut — and the traditional territory of 24 First Nations.

Appointments and employments

StrategyCorp Inc. ● Former NDP MP (Skeena—Bulkley Valley) has been hired as a senior ​ ​ advisor by government relations firm StrategyCorp.

Funding announcements

● The Industry Training Authority is providing $7.5 million to support six trades training ​ ​ ​ programs for Indigenous people in B.C. Over the next two years, 475 people are ​ expected to participate in the programs, which will include “courses ranging from exploratory and introductory trades to construction and electrical training,” according to the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training. ​ ​ ○ The funding comes from the Canada-BC Workforce Development Agreement. ​ ​

● Access 2020, a new pilot program from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, is ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ offering B.C.-based film and TV producers up to $30,000 to support early-stage development — including research, script development and travel expenses for pitching

or marketing — of children's and scripted drama projects. The program will make it easier for producers to access funding, according to the ministry, as it does not require them to secure broadcaster support. ○ Access 2020 is a $400,000 partnership between Creative BC, the Canada ​ ​ ​ Media Fund (CMF) and the BC branch of the Canadian Media Producers ​ ​ Association. It marks the first time CMF has partnered with a provincial funding ​ body — a recognition of “the strength and reputation of B.C.'s industry,” according to the ministry.

Lobbyist registrations If you are looking for further information on any lobbying registry, it is all public and easily searchable here. ​ ​

Consultants who registered as lobbyists from January 18, 2020 – January 23, 2020

● Nicola Hill, Earnscliffe Strategy Group ​ ​ o Clients: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC ​ SPCA)

● Nicole Johnson, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ o Clients: The Explorers and Producers Association of Canada ​

● Sarah Weber, C3 Alliance Corp. ​ ​ o Clients: Colorado Resources Ltd. ​

● Don Stickney, Earnscliffe Strategy Group ​ ​ o Clients: Shaw Communications Inc. ​ ● Giulia Turco, FleishmanHillard HighRoad Corp ​ ​ o Clients: Woodside Energy International (Canada) Limited ​

● Kimanda Jarzebiak, Ascent Public Affairs ​ ​ o Clients: Vancouver Prostate Centre ​

Organizations that registered in-house lobbyists from January 18, 2020 – January 23, 2020

● West Coast LEAF Association ● Clean Energy Association of British Columbia ● Canadian Red Cross Society ● Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) ● Futurpreneur Canada ● Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd

● Building Owners and Managers Association of British Columbia ● Business Council of British Columbia