BC Today – Daily Report November 9, 2020

Quotation of the day

“It has been my life’s joy to serve the riding of Chilliwack—Kent for 7.5 years.”

Former Liberal MLA Laurie Throness — who was booted from the party one week before ​ ​ voting day — concedes the race to NDP candidate . ​ ​ ​ ​

Today in B.C.

Written by Shannon Waters

Premier watch Premier said he was “humbled” by the final results of the 2020 election, which ​ ​ saw the New Democrats grow their caucus by another two seats.

“Just like we have for the last three and a half years, we’re going to do our level best each and every day to keep BC moving forward and build a better future for everyone,” Horgan said of the 57 NDP MLAs who will be heading to the legislature (up from the 55 declared on voting day).

Horgan also extended his congratulations to United States president-elect Joe Biden and ​ ​ vice-president-elect Kamala Harris in a statement released Saturday. ​ ​

“Alongside the Government of Canada, we look forward to strengthening and growing our relationship to get through the pandemic and build an economic recovery that works for everyone,” Horgan said.

Races shift in final count The final count of the 2020 election saw the NDP add three former Liberal strongholds to their seat count while the Greens have likely lost their celebrated third seat in the Lower Mainland.

The NDP claimed two seats in the Fraser Valley. In Abbotsford—Mission, Liberal incumbent Simon Gibson saw his 188 vote lead on NDP candidate and Mission Mayor ​ ​ disappear. Alexis was declared the winner on Saturday by a margin of 744 votes. NDP candidate Kelli Paddon’s lead over Independent incumbent Laurie Throness grew from 195 ​ ​ ​ ​ votes on election night to 1,304 votes by the time all ballots were counted.

The party picked up a pair of ridings in Richmond, both of them vacated by retiring Liberal MLAs. In Richmond—Steveston, NDP candidate and Richmond city Councillor ​ beat Liberal Matt Pitcairn by 1,335 votes. Liberal candidate Alexa Loo conceded Richmond ​ ​ ​ ​ South Centre to NDP candidate with a margin of 179 votes. ​ ​

Meanwhile, the West Vancouver—Sea to Sky riding shifted back to Liberal incumbent Jordan ​ Sturdy during the final count. Sturdy trailed Green Party candidate Jeremy Valeriote by 604 ​ ​ ​ votes on election night but came out 41 votes ahead following the final count. The riding is headed for a judicial recount.

The Liberals also managed to hang on to the Fraser—Nicola riding, where a nomination fight looks to have cost the NDP a seat. Liberal incumbent bested NDP candidate ​ ​ Aaron Sumexheltza by 282 votes. Sumexheltza’s nomination prompted the local riding ​ executive to resign and one of the former members, Dennis Adamson, ran as an Independent, ​ ​ picking up 438 votes.

Eric Foster, the Liberal incumbent in Vernon—Monashee, was not as lucky as Tegart. He led ​ NDP candidate by 180 votes following the final count but ended up losing ​ ​ the riding by 424 votes.

Absentee and mail-in ballots favored the NDP, who got 52.5 per cent of the vote compared to 45 per cent in the initial count. The Liberal vote share dropped to 30.9 per cent from 35.4 per cent on voting day, and the Greens pulled 14.7 per cent compared to 15.3 per cent.

Overall, the NDP finished with 47.7 per cent of the popular vote followed by the Liberals at 33.8 per cent and the Greens in third at 15.1 per cent.

If the current result in West Vancouver—Sea to Sky holds, B.C.’s 42nd parliament will be composed of 57 NDP MLAs, 28 Liberal MLAs and two Green MLAs — enough for the Greens to retain official party status.

Lower Mainland sees first regional Covid restrictions B.C. broke its single-day Covid case records on both Friday and Saturday — reporting more than 1,150 cases in total. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister held a rare ​ ​ ​ ​ Saturday news conference to announce two weeks of restrictions targeting the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions.

Together, the two regions accounted for more than 1,000 of the new cases.

“In the last two weeks, we have seen a dangerously high and rapid increase of COVID-19 cases and outbreaks ... particularly here in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions,” Dr. Henry said. “We need to take urgent and focused actions, here in particular in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions, to avoid the serious consequences for all of us.”

Until noon on November 23, social gatherings in the Lower Mainland are restricted to household members only and non-essential travel outside of or into the region is “strongly” discouraged. Indoor group physical activities — such as yoga and spin classes — are suspended, as are some indoor sports, including boxing, hockey, volleyball, basketball and martial arts.

The new restrictions do not affect school sports, but teams are advised against travelling to play.

Party buses and limo services are banned until further notice.

“This is a time-limited order, but this is what we need to do now,” Dr. Henry said. “We need to stop our social connections where we, unfortunately, are seeing this virus spread.”

All businesses and worksites in the Lower Mainland are required to conduct “active daily in-person screening” of all on-site employees for Covid symptoms. Employees who can work from home should be “actively” supported to do so.

Businesses should also review their COVID-19 safety plans with a focus on ensuring both employees and customers are observing physical distancing requirements and wearing masks where appropriate.

Several communities within the affected health regions are exempt from the new restrictions —

including the Central and Sunshine coasts, Bella Bella and Hope — due to lower community transmission rates and geographic isolation.

No additional restrictions were ordered for the remaining three health authorities, but Dix encouraged residents to take the provincial situation seriously.

“What is required now is to remember the provincial health orders that are in place and to follow the guidance and to follow the orders,” he said. “This is a worldwide pandemic, and we need to address it everywhere in B.C.”

Today’s events

November 9 at 10 a.m. — Online ​ ​ Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will provide an update on Covid in B.C. ​ ​ ​

Topics of conversation

● B.C. reported 567 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. There were 31 critical cases (up three from Thursday) One new death was reported, pushing the total to 276. ○ Saturday’s update did not include the number of active cases; as of Friday, there were 3,741 active cases (up 352 from Thursday). As of Friday, there were 104 people in hospital (up seven from Thursday). ○ One new health-care facility outbreak was reported for a total of 37 active outbreaks in the health-care sector.

● B.C.’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.4 percentage points to eight per cent in October, according to new StatsCan data. ○ “This jobs report is another positive sign for our economy and the people of British Columbia,” Premier John Horgan said in a statement. “However, the ​ ​ numbers, while welcome, do not fully reflect the continuing serious hardship in some sectors of the economy.” ○ He pledged that the provincial government will continue to support those businesses “still struggling to get back on their feet.” ○ B.C.’s unemployment rate is nearly a full point below the national average and fourth among the provinces but still 2.4 per cent below the level in February. Employment in B.C. increased by 1.4 per cent in October.

● B.C. is still not collecting disaggregated data on how the pandemic is affecting racialized people. “At this point, we do not have the capacity to add that information to each individual case report form,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Saturday. “We are focusing on ​ ​ the public health actions that we need to take for every individual person in the midst of this pandemic.”

○ She said the province is still working with Ottawa to develop standards for collecting disaggregated data but suggested that adding more questions to Covid case reporting forms would be too burdensome at present. “There are other ways that we can retrospectively look at the impacts of the pandemic, and of the measures that we have put in place to deal with a pandemic on populations in B.C.,” she said, citing the survey the province circulated during the spring to learn about the pandemic’s early impacts. ○ Even if B.C. did have the data, the province lacks the infrastructure to “easily transmit and share” it “across the province or across the country,” per the provincial health officer.

● If B.C.’s Covid case trend continues to worsen, over 60 per cent of British Columbians would support a return to Phase 1 restrictions that the province implemented in March, according to polling from Insights West. ​ ○ Eighty-five per cent of respondents support provincewide mandatory indoor masking policies and 87 per cent support keeping social gatherings limited to household members plus a “safe six.” ○ Anxiety about the pandemic has risen considerably amid the second wave, but not to the levels it reached during the first wave in the spring. In March, 91 per cent of respondents were worried about the pandemic with 45 per cent “very” worried. At the end of October, 84 per cent of respondents were worried, 28 per cent of them “very” much so. ○ A majority (53 per cent) of British Columbians think the province should do more to help small retailers weather the pandemic while 43 per cent would like to see more support for restaurants, bars and tourism operators.

● The Métis Nation B.C. (MNBC) wants to see the replacement for the Pattullo Bridge renamed and has suggested Reconciliation Bridge as an option. MNBC president Clara ​ ​ Morin Dal Col wrote to Premier John Horgan, suggesting the new bridge should have a ​ ​ ​ new name. “My preference is Reconciliation Bridge for the simple fact that it covers First Nations and Métis — it covers all Indigenous people in the province,” she said. ○ The premier’s office told the Vancouver Sun that the process of choosing a name ​ ​ for the replacement structure is still underway.

News briefs

Contract awarded for final Kicking Horse Canyon section ● Kicking Horse Canyon Constructors — a consortium involving Aecon Group Inc., ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Parsons Inc. and Emil Anderson Construction — is the preferred proponent for the ​ ​ ​ $440.6-million contract to complete the fourth and final phase of the Kicking Horse Canyon project.

○ Widening the 4.8-kilometre stretch of Highway 1 is expected to be substantially complete by the winter of 2023. ○ The total budget for the Kicking Horse Canyon project — which will be delivered under the Province's Community Benefits Agreement — is $601 million, with $386 million from the provincial government and $215 million from the federal government.

BC Today is written by Shannon Waters, reporting from the British Columbia Legislative Press Gallery.

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