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April 6Th, 2021 Dear Premier Horgan, Minister Dix, Minister Kahlon and Dr

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April 6Th, 2021 Dear Premier Horgan, Minister Dix, Minister Kahlon and Dr April 6th, 2021 Honourable John Horgan Honourable Adrian Dix Honourable Ravi Kahlon Dr. Bonnie Henry Premier of British Columbia Minister of Health Minister of Jobs, Economic Provincial Health Officer West Annex PO Box 9050 Stn Prov Gov Recovery and Innovation of British Columbia Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Legislative Assembly of PO Box 9648 Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 British Columbia Parliament Stn Prov Gov Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Victoria, BC V8W 9P4 Dear Premier Horgan, Minister Dix, Minister Kahlon and Dr. Henry, We want to begin by thanking all of you for your leadership throughout the past year in these truly unprecedented times. We know how hard you and all your staff throughout the public service have been working to keep our communities safe and to support our small businesses as they struggle to stay afloat. As in many communities across the Province, Monday’s new restrictions came as a shock to our already struggling service and hospitality sector. Businesses had just begun to hire people in advance of the upcoming “patio season” made possible through Build Back Victoria. Hotels had begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel with bookings in the early summer. Within 24 hours, 4800 bookings were cancelled, many restaurants closed and staff were sent home, and tens of thousands of dollars of food waste has been created. We know that you made these decisions to protect the health of British Columbians. And we agree that without a healthy population, we won’t have an economic recovery or a strong economy going forward. We are not writing to make any requests for an earlier than safe re-opening of the businesses that were recently targeted. However, we are writing to inquire as to what criteria will be used to determine when these businesses can safely be re-opened and what the Province’s next steps are. Will it be a certain percentage of the population being vaccinated? Or getting below a certain case count? Or below a certain positivity rate? Or below a certain number of hospitalizations and ICUs stays? Having as clear as possible indicators is important because this will allow businesses to prepare and make thoughtful rational decisions based on the data that we all watch so carefully as it is presented by Minister Dix and Dr. Henry every day. We would further request that the Province consider future orders with a lens to regional disparities in cases when making decisions. This was done last fall and was also done on Monday with Whistler-Blackcomb. In the latter example, that particular ski hill was closed based on case counts, but not all ski hills in the province. We understand that things can change quickly, but we also note that when the new orders were put in place only 6 per cent of cases in the province were on Vancouver Island. We look forward to continuing to work closely with your government to steward our businesses and our community through this challenging time. Sincerely, .../2 Jeff Bray, Executive Director Paul Nursey, CEO Downtown Victoria Business Association Destination Greater Victoria Bill Lewis, Chair Emilie de Rosenroll, CEO Hotel Association of Greater Victoria South Island Prosperity Partnership Lisa Helps Kathy Wichter, CEO City of Victoria Mayor Urban Development Institute Bruce Williams, CEO Dan Gunn, CEO Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce VIATEC .
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