BC Today – Daily Report December 10, 2019 Today

BC Today – Daily Report December 10, 2019 Quotation of the day “It’s a government that is choosing to support people who have been profiting from illegal activities over hard-working British Columbian forestry workers.” Liberal Forests critic John Rustad slams a new government program to help illegal cannabis growers in the Kootenays transition to the legal market. Today in B.C. On the schedule The house is adjourned for the Christmas break. MLAs will return to the legislature on February 11, 2020, for the speech from the throne. Fast growing Surrey to get new hospital, but construction is years away Health Minister Adrian Dix joined Premier John Horgan at the Surrey Museum Monday to announce the province has approved a concept plan for a new hospital in one of British Columbia’s fastest growing cities. “We're not announcing any costs today,” Horgan said. “We've got to start with the business plan and then once that's done, we go to tender and we start building the hospital.” The new hospital will be built in the Cloverdale area, beside the Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus on 180 Street. The premier expects developing the business plan — which will flesh out details such as the project’s scope and budget — will take “at least 12 months,” with construction unlikely to start before the fall of 2021. When asked to ballpark costs for the new facility, Dix rattled off projections for several hospitals at various stages of development around the province: the new Terrace hospital is currently priced in the $400 to $500 million range, and Williams Lake’s new hospital has a $300-million price tag. Burnaby’s hospital upgrade, he said, is “in the billion dollar range” — likely closer to what Surrey’s new facility will cost, given the local population. Meanwhile, the cost of building the new St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver, set to open in 2026, is estimated at $1.9 billion. Many of the hospitals currently slated for rebuilding or expansion are over 40 years old; Dix said the government’s aim is to upgrade the facilities to reflect 21st century demand, but Surrey will be an exception, due to its rapidly growing population. “[Surrey adds] a hundred thousand new people a decade … and that’s not just one decade, that’s decade after decade after decade,” he said. “That means that we are going to need, if we’re seriously planning for the health care of this community, we need a hospital here.” With a population of more than 500,000, the city currently has one hospital — Surrey Memorial — with another, Peace Arch, located just across the boundary with neighbouring White Rock. The Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre helps cover surgical and outpatient needs. Building a new hospital in Surrey was a promise the NDP made during the 2017 election campaign. The hospital is the 13th major health capital project announced by the NDP government to replace outdated facilities, per the health ministry. Horgan stressed the need to adequately invest in health-care infrastructure in order to support the quality care that is “fundamental to who we are as Canadians.” “There has been a deterioration in our delivery of service — not because of the people who work in the sector, but because our equipment, our facilities are not keeping pace with demand,” he said. Safe supply and strike action Horgan was asked at a media availability about whether his government will take action to address the toxic street drug supply in B.C., considering the monetary and administrative burdens it puts on the province’s health-care system. “Certainly, the overdose death crisis in B.C. has been here a lot longer than the NDP government has and we have seen a decline in deaths but an increase in overdoses,” Horgan said, adding that the province is currently working with Ottawa on “pilot projects.” The federal government has been “slow to get off the mark” on the issue, according to Horgan. “I’m not faulting them for that — it’s not easy to change,” he said. “We need to work cooperatively with the federal government, and that’s what we are going to do.” As for frustrated forestry sector workers striking on Vancouver Island, the premier did not seem keen to intervene. Horgan also expressed empathy for frustrated forestry sector workers on Vancouver Island but “Of course there’s anger when you’ve had a five-month strike … this is unprecedented,” Horgan said, touting his experience working in the industry “many, many years ago.” “This is a private sector dispute,” he added, noting that the parties remain at the bargaining table and “the best mediator in the province,” Vince Ready, is also involved. Horgan is “hopeful that there will be resolution within the next day or so.” The months-long impasse between the United Steelworkers union and Western Forest Products is the “result of low market prices [and] softwood lumber dispute with the United States,” according to the premier. Today’s events December 10 at 10 a.m. — Vancouver Stand.earth and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs will be joined by representatives from Dogwood Initiative and West Coast Environmental Law for a news conference at the union’s Vancouver offices to launch a petition calling on the prime minister and federal finance minister to “keep their promise and publish an updated cost estimate” for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The news conference will be livestreamed. December 10 at 7 p.m. — Delta Liberal Agriculture critic Ian Paton (Delta) will host Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson for a year-end fundraising event at Gracie’s Next Door. Upcoming events December 16 - 17 — Ottawa Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau is hosting the provincial and territorial finance ministers for a two-day meeting next week. The agenda includes discussions for enhancing the fiscal stabilization fund for provinces facing hard economic times, as the premiers requested earlier this month at a Council of the Federation meeting in Toronto. Finance Minister Carole James will attend. Topics of conversation ● Vancouver’s SkyTrain workers and their employer reached a deal overnight last night — narrowly avoiding a strike that would have shut down service at 5:00 a.m. this morning. ● Another B.C. riding will have no incumbent in 2021 — Liberal MLA Steve Thomson announced yesterday that he will not seek re-election. “Serving as the MLA for Kelowna—Mission has been the experience of a lifetime, and an absolute honour,” Thomson said in his announcement. “Having served as a government Minister, a member of the Treasury Board, and even briefly as Speaker of the House, I look forward to sharing everything I have learned in over a decade in politics with those who will put their names forward to seek to represent this great community.” ○ Thomson served as Speaker for one week in 2017, following the Liberal Party’s razor-thin election win. His tenure ended when the Liberal government fell in a confidence vote on June 29, 2017. Thomson missed most of the spring 2018 session while recovering from triple bypass surgery. ○ Thomson is the fifth sitting MLA to decline to run again. The others are Liberal MLAs Linda Larson (Boundary—Similkameen), Ralph Sultan (West Vancouver—Capilano) and Linda Reid (Richmond South Centre), and Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver (Oak Bay—Gordon Head) ● The BC Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) has yet to place any orders for edible cannabis products, according to reporting from the Vancouver Sun, but it does know what B.C. cannabis retailers will be able to offer B.C. customers to start — 145 vaporizing products; 54 types of edibles such as chocolates, cookies, gummies and mints; 53 beverages; 12 topical products; and 11 extracts for inhaling. Edible product packaging will include information about THC and CBD content as well as the approximate dried cannabis equivalent. No word on how prices will be set or when, precisely, edible cannabis products will be for sale in B.C. ○ Health Canada recommends “new consumers” stick to edibles “containing 2.5 mg of THC or less” and understand that it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to feel the product’s effects. ● Liberal Forests critic John Rustad is livid the NDP government is dedicating $675,000 to help illegal cannabis producers in the Kootenays transition to legal production while failing to “address the litany of layoffs and closures plaguing” the province’s forestry industry. “It’s one thing to support an emerging industry, but it’s quite another to prioritize taxpayer dollars for previously illegal enterprises, all while claiming there is no money left to support the forestry industry that grew this province,” Rustad said in a statement. “This isn’t just a case of a government picking winners and losers, it’s a government that is choosing to support people who have been profiting from illegal activities over hard-working British Columbian forestry workers.” ○ The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction announced the Cannabis Business Transition Initiative in mid-November. ● In a news release sent yesterday, Alberta Economic Development, Trade and Tourism Minister Tanya Fir celebrated her visit to B.C. to “promote Alberta as the best place in Canada to invest” as a success. “I highlighted how our government is laying the foundation for sustainable economic growth and driving investment and job creation in Alberta,” Fir said. “I was encouraged by the genuine excitement expressed for our strong plan to renew Alberta’s economy.” Minnesota, Illinois and B.C. itself were target jurisdictions for the Alberta trade minister “because they collectively contribute more than $70 billion in trade” with Alberta.

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