BC Today – Daily Report June 19, 2020 Quotation of the day “The global headquarters of the cannabis industry should be in B.C. We have the product that everybody wants.” David Hurford, interim secretary of the BC Craft Farmers Co-op, calls on government to help ​ craft cannabis producers realize B.C.’s potential as an international cannabis powerhouse. Today in B.C. On the schedule The summer session begins at 10 a.m. on Monday. Up to 25 MLAs will be returning to the chamber, and the remainder will participate in proceedings via Zoom. The session is set to last until August 12 with constituency breaks scheduled for the first weeks of July and August. At the legislature Premier John Horgan and government house leader Mike Farnworth led a trial run of house ​ ​ ​ ​ proceedings in the newly techy chamber yesterday — the room now boasts four large TV ​ screens to connect remote MLAs. ​ The practice session included members’ statements, question period and virtual voting procedures. Budding craft cannabis industry could be economic balm, co-op says After more than two years of legalization, B.C.’s legendary bud has yet to reach its full potential — both when it comes to quality and to recreational sales revenues. That’s something David Hurford, interim secretary of the newly minted BC Craft Farmers ​ ​ Co-op, hopes the COVID-19 pandemic will change. “The global headquarters of the cannabis industry should be in B.C.,” Hurford told BC Today in ​ ​ an interview. “We have the product that everybody wants.” There are thousands of small-scale cannabis farmers in B.C. — many of whom have decades of experience producing high-quality, world-renowned product — but vanishingly few have been able to break into the legal recreational market. Of the 1.2 million square metres of legal cannabis growing space approved by Health Canada to date, just 0.17 per cent is managed by craft cannabis operations, according to the co-op. “We’ve been saying for a year or so that the [federal] regulations were a problem,” Hurford said. “No one really believed us. Now we see the numbers, and it's obvious that there's a problem and that B.C. has by far the most to lose out of that.” Hurford — who served as a senior advisor to Chretien-era health minister Allan Rock during the ​ ​ development of Canada’s medical marijuana regime in the 1990s — is credited with spearheading the co-op’s new proposal to the federal and provincial governments, calling for ​ ​ regulatory changes and economic investment to give B.C.’s small-scale cannabis producers a leg up. Amping up the craft industry could create $3 billion in direct economic impact and over 20,000 jobs across the province, according to the proposal. What’s needed is a move from Ottawa to temporarily transition 30 per cent of the small-scale producers already licensed by Health Canada as “micro-medical cultivators” into the legal recreational market in time for the summer growing season. The B.C. government counts just 10 micro-cultivation licences and two micro-processing licences in the entire province, compared to 117 standard licences. “There's only about 25 [micro-cultivation licences] in the country,” Hurford said, adding that there are already 6,500 small scale producers in B.C. with licences to grow medical cannabis. “Twenty-five is a joke. We need 2,000 in B.C. We need 3,000.” Hurford maintains that if governments turn the right dials, B.C.’s craft cannabis industry could quickly become sustainable and “contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal, provincial and municipal treasury.” “These jobs are literally shovel-ready. This is really about helping farmers through the transition and then making sure that they're set up for success beyond,” he told BC Today. ​ ​ B.C. bud could be bigger than craft beer with the right support Making craft cannabis part of B.C.’s economic recovery is “very much on the agenda,” according to Premier John Horgan. ​ “We are confident we can move forward and put British Columbia in that place that most Canadians expected us to be, and that is as national leaders in the development of the sector,” Horgan told reporters Wednesday. The province is “actively considering” changes to its retail model, according to the public safety ministry, such as farm-to-gate cannabis sales and allowing the private sector to sell cannabis online — something only the BC Cannabis Store is currently allowed to do. B.C. has taken some steps to help its cannabis farmers. Last fall, the province dedicated $600,000 to helping cannabis farmers in the Kootenays transition to the legal market. But so far, a sour mix of regulatory and banking rules has made this easier said than done for small producers. What small-scale producers need most from the province is access to credit — something that can be difficult for farmers with links to the gray market to acquire. Meeting the qualification requirements for a federal licence can cost small farmers upwards of $200,000, Hurford said. Financial support from government — both provincial and federal — wouldn’t hurt either. “Treat the cannabis sector as the opportunity that it is ... the same way that you work with other ​ well-established sectors — forestry, tourism, the wine industry, technology,” Hurford said. “I think craft [cannabis] could be even bigger than [craft beer], frankly.” Craft cannabis could be a pandemic recovery booster Premier Horgan has been “an effective advocate” for B.C.’s craft cannabis sector, according to Hurford, but getting Ottawa to prioritize craft growers has been a struggle. While there has been some acknowledgement that the current regulations are not serving small producers well, Hurford says there has been “a lack of urgency” on the part of federal officials — but the pandemic has changed that. “There is now a sense of urgency at the federal level that did not exist, pre-pandemic — and that of course is around economic recovery. I think that there's an opportunity and an opening now around innovation on the regulatory side,” he said. Today’s events June 19 at 9:30 a.m. – Online ​ Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry will join Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority, for an update on COVID-19 and how it has impacted First Nations communities. June 19 at 11 a.m. – Nanaimo ​ NDP MLA Sheila Malcolmson (Nanaimo) will make an outdoor announcement about improving ​ ​ schools for students in Nanaimo at Cilaire Elementary School. June 19 at 12:30 p.m. – Online ​ Advanced Education, Skills and Training Minister Melanie Mark will be joined by Simon Fraser ​ ​ University president Andrew Petter and Katrina Chen, minister of State for Child Care and ​ ​ ​ ​ MLA for Burnaby—Lougheed, to announce a capital investment that “will be of interest” to the university’s Indigenous students and faculty and the broader Indigenous community. Topics of conversation ● Yesterday, B.C. confirmed eight new cases of COVID-19, bringing the province’s total to 2,783. The provincial death toll remains at 168. There were 10 people hospitalized with COVID-19, five of them critical, and with 2,425 people recovered from the disease, there were 190 active cases in the province. ○ Health Minister Adrian Dix announced that all 501 long-term care and assisted ​ ​ facilities in B.C. are now in compliance with the province’s single-site order, restricting staff to work at a single facility. ○ The order was first issued in late March. Dix said the cost of enacting the order — including around $10 million per month to top up wages for some workers — will be released in the coming weeks. ● The BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA) wants Dr. Bonnie Henry to endorse its ​ ​ three-point plan to allow family visits at long-term care facilities. “After being disconnected from their loved ones for several months, residents and families are demanding that we find a way to reinstate visits at care homes,” Mike Klassen, acting ​ ​ CEO of the BCCPA, said in a statement. Time and additional funding will be needed to allow facility staff to plan for and manage family visits, per the BCCPA’s plan. ○ The issue of reopening care facilities to family visits is “challenging and complex,” Dr. Henry told reporters yesterday. “We need to do it in a way that's measured, that's safe,” she said. ● A Vancouver employment lawyer is calling on the province to tweak the Employment ​ Standards Act to save temporarily laid-off workers from becoming permanently ​ unemployed due to the pandemic — a situation that would leave their employers on the hook for hefty severance costs. “Do the math,” wrote Ryan Anderson of Mathews, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Dinsdale and Clark LLP in a legal brief. “For example, the termination of 101 employees earning $40,000 per year on average, at a single location within a two-month period, triggers a group termination liability of over $930,000.” ○ “There are few small- or medium-sized businesses that could survive that kind of hit — especially if their doors have been shut for 16 weeks,” he added. ● Green Party house leader Sonia Furstenau released the second plank of her leadership ​ ​ ​ ​ campaign platform yesterday, this one focused on realizing “livable communities, a green industrial strategy, and infrastructure investments” as a path to economic recovery for the province. “We need to reimagine what we want our communities to look like — in my mind, that means making them safer, healthier and more connected for everyone,” Furstenau said in a statement. ○ The platform calls for “equitable, stable long-term” transit funding, a green industrial strategy, and engaging with local governments and stakeholders on community development.