BC Today – Daily Report September 15, 2020

Quotation of the day

“The spectre of a completely unnecessary, irresponsible early election in the middle of a pandemic is being contemplated simply because it might benefit one party's political fortunes.”

In her BC Green Party leadership acceptance speech, Sonia Furstenau says Premier John Horgan has “a responsibility to govern not play politics” as speculation of a fall election grows.

Today in B.C.

On the schedule The house is adjourned for the summer.

Two cabinet ministers retiring, stirring up snap election speculation Premier John Horgan continued to play coy on whether he plans to call an election before the month is out during a news conference yesterday morning.

Asked directly if he intends to call an election in the coming weeks, Horgan said his party has been preparing to go back to the polls “since day one.”

“I expect all other political parties have been doing that as well,” he told reporters. “I'm going to continue to focus on the here and the now, what can we do today to make life better for British Columbians, what can we do today to keep British Columbians safe — that's what people have asked me to do, and I'm going to continue doing that.”

Hours later, a pair of NDP cabinet ministers announced their retirement from politics, another signal a writ drop could be in the offing.

One was Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson, one the NDP’s few members from the north.

Donaldson’s Stikine riding, which he’s held since 2009, is the largest and least-populated in B.C., covering the entire north-west corner of the province.

“It’s time to get back to the balance of spending more time on the land with family and friends, both in the backcountry and at home on Gitxsan territory,” he said in a statement.

Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Scott Fraser is also bowing out of provincial politics. Fraser has represented Mid-Island Pacific Rim since 2005; he said he has been mulling whether or not to run again for the past year.

“It was a tough call to make because I love my job, but I realize it is time for me to spend more time with my loved ones and allow space for the leaders of tomorrow to step forward,” he said in a statement.

Both Donaldson and Fraser won their ridings by solid margins in 2017, with significant leads over the second place Liberal candidates in both ridings.

Furstenau wins leadership race, calls idea of election ‘irresponsible’ It did not take long for newly minted BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau to address the prospect of a fall election during the pandemic.

“John Horgan, I say you have a responsibility to govern, not play politics,” Furstenau said in her acceptance speech.

She accused the premier of preparing to “leave the province leaderless” in a bid to consolidate his party’s power and urged him not to “succumb to the old ways of doing politics” after three years of collaborative governance with the Greens.

Furstenau touted the Green caucus’s record of working with the NDP on some issues — such as banning big money from provincial politics and reforming B.C.’s oversight of natural resource industries — while holding the NDP’s feet to the fire on other issues, including LNG development.

She emphasized her belief in collaborative politics over the traditional adversarial approach, offering shout-outs to Liberal house leader Mary Polak and Katrina Chen, the NDP minister of state for child care, for their willingness to work across party lines..

“This is not a common practice in the BC legislature — the political structures we have in place reinforce hyper partisanship, perpetuating the myth this is just how politics is done,” she said.

Furstenau promised Green voters will have a “slate of thoughtful, hard-working BC Green candidates” to choose from when the next election is called.

Ballot breakdown Just over 4,659 Green Party members and supporters cast ballots in the leadership race for a total turnout of 85 per cent. The successful candidate needed 2,318 votes to secure their win.

The first ranked ballot was indecisive — Kim Darwin received 521 votes, Cam Brewer got 1,916 and Furstenau secured 2,197.

With Darwin eliminated, Furstenau won the second ballot by over 300 votes, scoring 2,428 votes to Brewer’s 2,127.

Former Green Party leader turned Independent MLA Andrew Weaver was quick to offer his congratulations to his successor. Weaver served as an advisor on Brewer’s campaign.

Today’s events

September 15 at 9:30 a.m. — Online NDP MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard, parliamentary secretary for seniors, will be joined by Thompson Rivers University president and vice-chancellor Brett Fairbairn for the grand opening of the school’s Nursing and Population Health Building.

September 15 at 10 a.m. — Online BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau will hold a media availability.

September 15 at 11 a.m. — Online Health Minister Adrian Dix will make an announcement about health care.

Topics of conversation

● B.C. reported 61 new COVID-19 cases yesterday. There were 1,594 active cases (up 133) with 58 people in hospital (up nine), 16 of them critical (up six). Six new deaths were reported — including the first Covid fatality in Northern Health — pushing the provincial total at 219. ○ Outbreaks at four health-care facilities were declared over, as was the outbreak at the Okanagan correctional centre.

● A pandemic-era election didn’t hurt the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party, which won a majority last night. The party, led by Premier Blaine Higgs, called a snap election last month, two years into his minority government’s term. ○ Higgs campaigned on his handling of the pandemic and the need for an experienced leader and stable government to lead the province’s recovery, while opposition party leaders made hay over him calling an election during Covid (Higgs main rival, Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers didn’t win his seat). ○ However, New Brunswick’s current pandemic situation — the province has just three active cases — is a far cry from B.C.’s. ○ Voter turnout was 66 per cent.

● The B.C. government is now offering the most generous fossil fuel subsidies in Canada outside of Alberta, according to a report from Stand.earth. The report estimates the province paid out $998 million in various subsidies in 2019-20 — nearly one-third in the form of deep-well royalty credits. ○ Tzeporah Berman, Stand.earth’s international program director, said the province will spend more than twice as much on tax breaks and direct subsidies to gas fracking companies as it will on its climate change plan. ○ “If they are serious about climate change they need to commit to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and immediately cancel the deep well royalty credit,” she said in a statement.

News briefs

Consultations on rural abattoirs continue ● The agriculture ministry’s consultations on how to improve access to abattoirs in rural areas of B.C. continues with the latest consultation paper proposing to overhaul the current facility classification system with “more intuitive categories.” ○ The paper also proposes policy tweaks that would allow small facilities to process more livestock and expand where their products can be sold, as well as developing licensed mobile abattoirs to improve access for small-scale producers.

Funding announcements

● British Columbians at high risk of lung cancer will have access to a new early detection screening program from BC Cancer by spring 2022, according to the health ministry. The program — billed as the first of its kind in the country — will focus on current and former heavy smokers between the ages of 55 and 74 and is expected to provide early diagnoses for 300 people per year once operating at full capacity. ○ The program’s operational costs are expected to be $2.8 million once fully operational, per the health minister.

● A partnership between the province, the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and the Fernie Family Housing Society will build a housing development featuring a 35-unit apartment building and 14 townhouse units in Fernie. The development will be geared toward families and seniors with moderate incomes and is expected to open in late fall 2021. ○ The province is investing approximately $1.4 million from the Building BC Community Housing Fund plus annual operating funding of approximately $71,000 for the 14 townhouses. ○ The province and CBT are providing a combined grant of about $4.6 million for the 35-unit apartment building.

● B.C.’s new $2-million Domestic Motion Picture Fund will provide support to production companies in the province. Companies can apply for funding for the development and completion of their projects.

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

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