BC Today – Daily Report April 21, 2020

Quotation of the day

“I​t will provide work right away.”

Energy Minister Bruce Ralston applauds new cash from Ottawa for the reclamation of ​ ​ orphaned oil and gas wells in B.C.

Today in B.C.

On the schedule At 3 p.m., Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will provide the daily briefing on ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ COVID-19 in B.C. The briefing will be livestreamed. ​ ​

TransLink announces nearly 1,500 layoffs, further service reductions Yesterday, TransLink announced it will temporarily lay off 1,492 employees as it tries to remain ​ ​ operational while losing $2.5 million a day. CEO Kevin Desmond expects the laid-off workers ​ ​ will be rehired — likely in September if schools reopen.

“This has been an incredibly tough decision and one we do not take lightly,” he said. “We’ve done our best to try and reduce costs through other means, but TransLink is losing $75 million per month, and we’re left with no other options.”

The company is deferring all planned service expansions for 2020, and senior executives and board members will see their salaries cut by 10 per cent.

Further service reductions — ranging from 20 to 40 per cent during off-peak times and 15 to 17 per cent during rush hour — will go into effect this week, with changes to SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express Services beginning on tomorrow and reductions to bus service taking effect on Friday.

A total of 18 bus routes will be eliminated, reducing the system’s overall capacity to about 20 per cent of normal levels.

David Black, president of the MoveUP union that represents administrative workers at ​ Translink, said he was “extremely disappointed” in the news.

“Our members – the front-line workers who get other front-line workers in place to serve the public — are being disproportionately impacted,” said Black in a statement. “Even more ​ ​ disheartening is that our union was only provided with two days’ notice.” He noted that the union’s collective agreement requires four weeks notice ahead of any layoffs.

According to Translink, more reductions are likely by mid-May unless there is an emergency bailout from the provincial and federal governments. Those reductions could include the suspension of 47 additional bus routes.

Premier John Horgan said he tried to get transit on Ottawa’s radar during the most recent ​ ​ teleconference between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the other premiers. ​ ​

“We need a national response to our transit challenges,” the premier said. “I look forward to a response from the federal government in short order, but we need to work on this together.”

Horgan acknowledged that the province also has a responsibility to keep transit operating in B.C. but said his government’s resources are being “severely challenged” by the deluge of pandemic-related funding needs.

New federal cash will bolster B.C.’s oil and gas well reclamation efforts B.C. will receive up to $120 million from Ottawa’s $1.7-billion relief package, announced last ​ ​ week, to support the cleanup and reclamation of oil and gas wells across the country.

Alberta — home to 4,700 orphaned and 91,000 inactive wells — will get the lion’s share of the funding at $1 billion. By comparison, B.C. has about 361 orphaned wells — nearly all of them gas wells in the northeast.

The province is ahead of the curve when it comes to well rehabilitation, according to Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Bruce Ralston, thanks to a new liability levy oil and ​ ​ gas producers are required to pay, effective April 1, 2020.

Administered by the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the levy was expected to raise about $15 million per year. It was part of a suite of legislative changes introduced by the NDP government in 2018 to tighten up oversight of the sector.

The federal funding — which will go to the province to be disbursed — will help speed up the process.

“This will provide money to what are typically smaller firms — they call them oil field service firms — that can go out and do the work,” Ralston told BC Today in an interview. “The oil and ​ ​ gas commission will administer it — it will provide work right away.”

B.C. will also receive a share of Ottawa’s new $750-million emissions reduction fund, focused on methane. The fund will provide “primarily repayable contributions” to oil and gas firms to encourage them to invest in technology that will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Ralston was scheduled to speak with federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan ​ yesterday to discuss specifics.

In December, the energy minister’s office told BC Today it was not actively seeking oil well ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ cleanup cash from Ottawa.

Today’s events

April 21 at 7:15 p.m. – Online ​ The Vancouver Island Health Authority’s bipartisan COVID-19 virtual town hall takes place this evening. Fraser Health CEO Kathy MacNeil will be joined by chief medical health officer Dr. ​ ​ ​ Richard Stanwick, NDP MLA Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt—Metchosin) and Green Party MLA Sonia ​ ​ ​ ​ Furstenau (Cowichan). The event will be livestreamed. ​ ​ ​

Topics of conversation

● B.C. confirmed a total of 52 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, bringing the provincial total to 1,699. Another five coronavirus fatalities pushed B.C’s COVID-19 death toll to 86. The number of hospitalized cases dropped to 104 — the lowest since last month — with

49 cases requiring critical care. ○ Maple Ridge’s Chartwell Willow Retirement Community is the latest assisted living facility to confirm an outbreak of COVID-19. As of yesterday, there were 20 such facilities dealing with outbreaks, as well as one acute care centre. Together, they account for 307 confirmed cases. ○ The Okanagan Correctional Centre’s outbreak is now considered resolved, according to Dr. Bonnie Henry, after 14 days with no new confirmed cases. The ​ ​ number of confirmed cases at the Mission Institute rose to 75, 64 of them inmates.

● In a bid to avoid “another spike in community cases,” BC. has broadened its COVID-19 testing criteria to include anyone with symptoms — typically cough, fever and shortness of breath — as well as those directly connected to confirmed cases and outbreaks.

● The province is still struggling to secure adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health-care workers and is “running low,” according to Health ​ Minister Adrian Dix. ​ ​ ○ The province is testing donated PPE as well as equipment obtained from unusual sources. But Dix said the system is “approaching that point where we'll need to introduce alternative PPE,” which could be less effective in stopping the spread of the virus among health-care workers. ○ Meanwhile, over 70 doctors and 1,245 nurses have reregistered to practice in B.C. since the province put out the call last month.

● B.C. has now confirmed seven COVID-19 cases in workers who have returned to the province from Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake project in Alberta. Effective immediately, Dr. Henry has ordered all workers returning from the site to self-isolate for 14 days.

● “It will be a while yet” before the Economic Recovery Task Force releases its plans to get B.C.’s economy back on track. Premier John Horgan told reporters yesterday “the ​ ​ ​ science and Dr. Henry and her team will determine at what point we can start implementing the recommendations we're getting — not just from the recovery task force.” ○ Horgan expects getting the tourism industry back on its feet will be one of the biggest challenges but emphasized that his government will take an expansive approach to economic recovery. “We need to start talking about not just the retail ​ sector, not just the resource sector ... but the broad cross-section of economic activity that makes up what was one of the most dynamic economies in North America until just a few weeks ago,” he said. ○ B.C will only lift restrictions “when it is safe and appropriate to do so,” according to Horgan, while being mindful of what is going on in the rest of Canada and ​ attuned to the situation in the United States.

● The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has written to Prime Minister Justin ​ ​ ​ Trudeau and the premiers, calling for strong privacy protections when it comes to ​ contact tracing and other data usages to combat the coronavirus. ○ In the letter, the CCLA says data surveillance should be a “last resort” and collection of any related information must be “grounded in evidence of public health necessity.” ○ The CCLA is also attempting to keep pandemic-related police actions in check, with an online portal for citizens who have been ticketed or charged to relay their experiences. The organization says it will use that info to make recommendations to improve emergency legislation.

● A group of B.C. homeowners who are challenging the NDP government’s speculation and vacancy tax in court have had their request for an interim injunction on paying the ​ ​ tax denied. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janet Winteringham is “not satisfied” the ​ ​ claimants “established irreparable harm” and notes that, if the case is successful, any tax paid will likely be refunded. ○ The homeowners, whose case was filed in November 2019, argued the speculation tax is unconstitutional and beyond the scope of the provincial government’s authority.

● Between a 240 per cent increase in demand for toilet paper and ramped-up consumption of pulp — used in products like wipes and medical masks — the COVID-19 pandemic has been a bit of a boon for Canada’s forestry industry. ​ ​ ○ But Derek Nighbor, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, told ​ ​ a House of Commons committee last week that all is not rosy for the sector. ○ Nearly 40 Canadian pulp mills have closed in recent months — 24 of them in B.C. — and pre-pandemic fibre supply challenges remain. ○ “Our industry is not looking for a bail-out,” Nighbor said. “What we're looking for is bolstered cash-flow support to keep our businesses operating through these difficult next two to three quarters.” ○ Kruger Products, which has a pulp mill in New Westminster, says there is ​ ​ currently “plenty of toilet paper to go around.”

● B.C. has a new co-op: the BC Craft Farmer Co-op represents “micro-cannabis ​ ​ cultivators, processors and independent retailers” and hopes to “maintain B.C.’s top position as a cannabis leader and innovator.” ○ “A poorly designed regulatory framework” has shut thousands of craft cannabis producers in B.C. out of the legal market, according to a news release from the co-op. “With a globally recognized brand and the most craft cannabis farmers in the country, BC’s economy has the most to lose if these innovators are not provided with a chance to fully apply their skills, network and experience in the new marketplace.”

News briefs

Province invests in resources to boost pandemic response in rural and Indigenous communities

● A “new collaborative framework” will ensure rural, remote and Indigenous communities in ​ ​ B.C. can access adequate health-care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes culturally safe contact tracing to protect individual privacy in small communities, increased mental health supports, and dedicated accommodations for those travelling to larger cities for health-care treatment or needing to self-isolate while staying in their home communities. ○ The province is also purchasing 55 new ambulances — six of which will be deployed in Northern Health — and has overhauled a total of seven planes and helicopters for medical transport. ○ “Newer, faster testing” is also part of the new protocol. This includes the rollout of GeneXpert test kits, which take less than 45 minutes to complete, according to the health ministry. Several GeneXpert instruments — which process the test kits — are already in use in the First Nations Health Authority, Northern Health, Interior Health, Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health. More GeneXpert instruments are expected to arrive in the province in the coming weeks. ○ First Nations members and their families now have access to Virtual Doctor of the Day, a program that connects people in remote communities to a doctor or ​ ​ nurse practitioner via videoconferencing. ○ The health ministry was unable to provide specific cost figures for the province’s plans ahead of BC Today’s publication deadline. ​ ​ Funding announcements

● A 49-unit temporary modular housing development is expected to open in Squamish by ​ ​ mid-May. ○ The temporary development is expected to operate through the end of October when Under One Roof, a new 45-unit permanent shelter and housing ​ ​ development, is scheduled to be complete.

● Penticton’s Peters Brother Construction Ltd. has been awarded an $8.5-million ​ ​ ​ ​ contract by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to resurface just over 50 ​ ​ kilometers of highway on Vancouver Island this summer. ○ The ministry says it is working with WorkSafeBC and the contractor to ensure the work is completed while complying with guidelines issued by the provincial health officer.