BC Today – Daily Report April 14, 2020

Quotation of the day

“I don’t have a crystal ball.”

Finance Minister Carole James says COVID-19’s full effect on B.C.’s economy won’t be known ​ ​ for some time.

Today in B.C.

On the schedule Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister will provide an ​ ​ ​ ​ update on B.C.’s COVID-19 cases at 3 p.m. The briefing will be livestreamed. ​ ​

Committees this week The Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts is scheduled to meet virtually on Wednesday. The only item on the agenda is planning for the Canadian Council of Public Accounts Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Victoria in August.

B.C.’s unemployment rate climbs to 7.2 per cent as province braces

for ‘tougher numbers’ to come B.C.’s economy lost 132,000 jobs during the month of March, according to Statistics Canada’s ​ ​ monthly Labour Force Survey.

The province’s unemployment rate increased 2.2 per cent to 7.2 per cent, putting B.C. behind only Quebec and Ontario when it comes to pandemic-related job losses.

The province no longer has the country’s lowest unemployment rate. Manitoba, which, like B.C., had an unemployment rate of 5.0 in February, only saw its joblessness rate jump to 6.4 per cent.

“It's important just to pause for a moment to remember that these aren't simply numbers,” Finance Minister Carole James told reporters. “These represent individuals, they represent ​ ​ families and they represent businesses in our province who are struggling right now.

James acknowledged the March numbers are not the entire picture.

About 216,000 people in Canada lost work in March but are not considered unemployed because they have not started seeking new jobs, likely because of ongoing industry-wide shutdowns and requirements to self-isolate.

B.C.’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up dramatically during the week of March 15 to 21, when the survey was held. The province declared a state of emergency on March 18, and thousands of service-sector businesses were ordered to close.

B.C. will likely see “tougher numbers” in the coming months, the finance minister said, despite boasting “a very strong economy and a strong workforce” prior to the pandemic.

James also said she’s already seeing signs of resilience among B.C. businesses, citing several who have retooled their operations in response to the pandemic, including Coquitlam’s Novo Textiles — which is set to become the first Canadian manufacturer of N95s — and VO2 Master, a Vernon company that normally makes physical performance analysis equipment but is altering its operations to make PPE.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose by 2.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent, and the employment rate dropped by 5.3 per cent.

No ‘crystal ball’ for economic recovery, but planning has begun Despite continued uncertainty about how long the economic impacts of the pandemic will last, James emphasized that the NDP government has already begun planning post-pandemic recovery efforts.

The premier’s Economic Recovery Task Force has already begun its work, and $1.5 billion of B.C.’s $5-billion COVID-19 aid package is earmarked for recovery efforts.

“We will continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and are committed to doing what it takes to support people and businesses in B.C.,” James said. “We are focused on delivering on a plan that addresses the critical situation many people and businesses find themselves in today.”

The province is not currently considering cuts to the public service due to high demand for government services combined with most bureaucrats’ ability to work from home, according to James.

The NDP government is also not planning to cancel the scheduled increase to the provincial minimum wage, which is set to rise to $14.60 per hour on June 1. James said low-wage workers need the boost.

“We do understand as well the cash flow challenges, the liquidity challenges that businesses are feeling,” James said. “That's why we've made a number of deferrals when it comes to other increases that are coming into place.”

Those include the cancelled increase to the provincial carbon tax and a slew of deferred filing and payment deadlines for other provincial taxes, including sales tax and the employer health tax.

If the shutdown lasts eight weeks, the Business Council of B.C. projects the province’s GDP will ​ ​ contract by 7.3 per cent in 2020. If the shutdown lasts longer than eight weeks and travel restrictions remain in place for most of the year, BCBC projects a 11 per cent decrease to GDP.

Topics of conversation

● B.C. confirmed 45 new cases of COVID-19 from Saturday to Monday, according to Dr. ​ ​ Bonnie Henry, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in B.C. to 1,490. The ​ province recorded 11 fatalities in that same time period, bringing B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll to 69. Just over 60 per cent of the province’s COVID-19 cases — 926 people — are now considered fully recovered while 137 people are in hospital with the viral infection, 68 in critical care. ○ B.C. continues to deal with a number of outbreaks, including in 20 long-term facilities that account for a total of 254 confirmed cases — 159 among residents and 97 among staff. ○ The outbreak at West Kelowna’s Bylands Nursery now includes 20 confirmed cases, mostly temporary foreign workers. Dr. Henry said Interior Health is working closely with the business owners to ensure affected workers are able to “self-isolate or quarantine effectively.” ○ The outbreak at the Okanagan Correctional Centre includes only one confirmed case so far, but the facility “remains under observation,” according to the provincial health officer. ○ At the Mission Institution, a federal prison, 35 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed and eight people from the prison have been hospitalized. “We are

working very hard to ensure that the transmission within that facility will be contained,” Dr. Henry said of the growing outbreak. “Unfortunately … there was quite a lot of transmission that happened before the outbreak was recognized, and we are now seeing people who were exposed over the previous two weeks developing symptoms.” ○ Since last Friday, 1,701 British Columbians returned to the province via land border crossings and flights. So far, 13 people have “required accommodation” due to not being able to meet the province’s requirement of a 14-day self-isolation plan. Another 207 people have been contacted to ensure they have what they need to remain in required isolation.

● is sending 250,000 N95 masks to B.C. to help stabilize the province’s supply of personal protective equipment for frontline health-care workers. Ontario and Quebec will receive identical N95 shipments as well as other medical supplies, which Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says his province can afford to donate while maintaining an ​ ​ adequate supply for its own use. ○ Kenney hopes the recipient provinces will “recognize in this contribution the generous role Albertans always played across the country” through its extraction of resources, namely oil. ○ During yesterday’s COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Henry said B.C. now has enough PPE on hand to meet current demand but, despite ongoing efforts to source more supplies, the stockpile remains precarious.

● Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart says the city could be facing bankruptcy if the ​ ​ ​ ​ COVID-19 pandemic pushes a significant percentage of property owners to default on this year’s property taxes, which make up the bulk of the city’s revenue. “If 25 per cent of homeowners do end up defaulting on their property taxes, we could shed up to an additional $325 million in revenues,” Stewart said, adding that the city — which has already laid off 1,500 employees — could be forced to liquify assets and exhaust all reserves just to stay afloat. ○ Mayor Kennedy is calling on the province to give Vancouver $200 million in direct aid (B.C. municipalities are not allowed to run budget deficits). ​ ​ ○ A Research Co. poll commissioned by Kennedy’s office found that about six per cent of property owners within the city’s limits say they won’t be able to pay their property taxes this year while another quarter say they will only be able to pay half of their 2020 property tax bill. ○ Vancouver isn’t the only major Canadian city facing a significant financial shortfall during the pandemic. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Saskatoon are all racking ​ up significant costs due to COVID-19 while facing financial hardship. ​

● B.C.’s efforts to level the playing field for long-term care workers while restricting their ability to work at multiple facilities is expected to cost $10 million per month, according to ​ Health Minister Adrian Dix. In its efforts to restrict the spread of COVID-19 through ​ ​

long-term care facilities, the province is putting staff, contractors and subcontractors to work directly for local health authorities for the duration of the pandemic, at least. ○ The risk of allowing workers to move back and forth between care facilities is not new, Dr. Bonnie Henry said, but COVID-19 has highlighted the issue. “This is ​ ​ something that we have recognized in public health from the very beginning of this outbreak, and indeed, recognized it from outbreaks that we have every year, whether it’s influenza or gastrointestinal outbreaks, or even antimicrobial resistant outbreaks,” she said.

● B.C.’s response to COVID-19 may prove to be a boon for the province’s film industry once normality begins to return. ”Hollywood is looking at what we've been doing in very favourably,” Premier told reporters during a news ​ ​ ​ ​ conference on Friday. ○ Film production crews may come back to B.C. “faster than they will to other parts of North America” due to the province’s handling of the pandemic, per the premier.

● In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Henry said that, despite studying disease ​ ​ ​ ​ outbreaks around the world for three decades, she never thought she would see a pandemic like COVID-19. B.C.’s high-profile provincial health officer finds her popularity “almost embarrassing” but also “really, really touching.” ○ “I’m an introvert — it’s not my nature to be the face of things,” she told the Times. ​ ​

● Despite some high-profile hand-wringing about busy BC Ferries terminals over the Easter weekend, the ferry corporation reported a 92 per cent decrease in traffic on the routes running from Vancouver to Nanaimo and Victoria. Smaller routes to the Sunshine Coast and Gulf Islands saw ridership decline by up to 80 per cent compared to last year. ○ Green Party MP Paul Manly, who represents Nanaimo, penned a letter to Prime ​ ​ ​ ​ Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier John Horgan, calling on them to restrict ​ ​ ​ ​ all non-essential travel on all remaining BC Ferries routes.

News briefs

COVID-19 rental supplement application process opens

● Further details about how the province’s COVID-19 rental supplement will work are now available. Applications for the three-month supplement opened on April 9. The subsidy ​ ​ will provide $300 to renters without dependents and $500 to those with dependent family members. In order to qualify, renters must be eligible for employment insurance (EI) or ​ the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or be able to prove they have lost at least one-quarter of their monthly income due to the pandemic. ○ The supplement has an income cutoff based on last year’s tax return: households ​ without dependents must have earned less than $74,150 in 2019 in order to

qualify; the income cutoff for households with dependents is $113,040. Eligible applicants have to be paying more than 30 per cent of their gross monthly income on rent and not be receiving any other rental subsidies. ○ For those who qualify, the supplement will be paid directly to their landlord.

Showcase BC will give artists micro-grants and performance opportunities

● The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is launching Showcase BC, an online hub ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ that will feature live performances and entertainment from local artists. Artists will receive a one-time micro-grant of up to $2,000 for livestreaming, songwriting and professional ​ development. British Columbians will be able to view their performances on the Showcase BC website. ○ A free livestream concert featuring musicians from around the province is being organized for this week with the concert lineup to be announced soon.

Funding announcements

● On Thursday, Mental Health and Addictions Minister announced a ​ ​ ​ ​ $5-million investment to boost virtual mental health support for British Columbians, especially first responders. ○ The province is working with several partner organizations — including Foundry ​ Youth Centres, the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, ​ ​ ​ and the BC Psychological Association — to develop new programs and ​ ​ ​ expand existing virtual options, as well as bring in-person community counselling programs online. ○ Additional support for health-care workers will include a dedicated online psychological support service from the BC Psychological Association, a virtual peer-support program and an online hub to access resources.