BC Today – Daily Report July 16, 2020

Quotation of the day

“If there is no room for homophobia or transphobia in your party, you will eject Laurie Throness from your caucus.” ​

NDP MLA calls on Liberal Leader to dump his ​ ​ ​ ​ party’s children and family development critic.

Today in B.C.

On the schedule The house will virtually convene at 10 a.m. for a day of estimates debate.

Committee A is scheduled to resume debate on the estimates for the Ministry of Citizens’ Services and move on to the Ministry of Agriculture estimates if time permits.

Committee C will continue debating the estimates for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

In the house There have not been many visitors to the house during the summer session, but yesterday government welcomed former —Fraserview MP Ian ​ ​ ​ Waddell.

Wednesday’s debates and proceedings Four bills passed committee and were granted third reading:

● Bill 5, Employment Standards Amendment Act, which, if passed, will mandate up to five ​ days of paid leave for survivors of domestic and sexual violence; ● Bill 11, Attorney General Statutes (Vehicle Insurance) Amendment Act, which enacts the ​ government’s proposed “enhanced care” auto insurance model; ● Bill 20, Motor Vehicle Amendment Act (No. 2), which would authorize more flexible use ​ of insurance decals on licence plates; and ● Bill 21, Wills, Estates and Succession Amendment Act, which would allow wills and ​ other legal documents to be witnessed remotely and submitted electronically.

The house also began second reading on Bill 18, Economic Stabilization (COVID-19) Act, ​ ​ which, if passed, will enact a suite of tax measures aimed at helping businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as allow the government to table deficit budgets through 2024.

MLAs also completed committee stage on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act. ​ ​

Pandemic winners should help fund recovery: CCPA With staring down a $12.5-billion deficit, the NDP should be taxing profitable businesses and wealthy citizens to help fund recovery efforts, according to a left-wing think tank.

Provincial revenues are set to take a $6.31-billion nosedive this year, meaning securing the cash to pay for further support for people and businesses in need could be difficult.

Alex Hemingway, a public finance policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy ​ Alternatives, believes that a World War II-era tax policy could help.

An excess profits tax — similar to levies enacted in , the U.K. and the United States during WWII — would see companies who see a spike in profits during the pandemic pay a higher corporate tax rate on those profits.

Historically, excess profits taxes have gone as high as 100 per cent.

Overall, corporate profits in B.C. are expected to drop by more than a third this year, but Hemingway said “there are a subset of businesses that are doing extremely well — better than usual.”

Those include tech and e-commerce companies getting a bump from additional online activity, producers of cleaning products and a smaller group of unscrupulous businesses that have participated in price gouging prompted by scarcity and high demand.

“That would be one way of funding those types of more targeted measures to help the many businesses that really are struggling,” Hemingway said.

He argued that similar policies could be applied to wealthy households who have weathered the pandemic well.

“It is appropriate to be looking right now at how they are going to be asked to chip in going forward,” Hemingway said.

The CCPA has previously outlined the gap between the super-wealthy and the average ​ ​ Canadian household — Canada’s 87 richest billionaire families control 4,448 times more wealth than the average family and as much as the bottom 12 million Canadians combined.

Wealth taxes also happen to be popular — a May 2020 survey conducted by Abacus Data on ​ ​ behalf of the Broadbent Institute found that 75 per cent of Canadian support the idea of a one to two per cent wealth tax to help fund pandemic recovery efforts. In B.C., support for a wealth tax was 90 per cent.

“That's something that should be squarely on our political agenda,” Hemingway said. “If it isn't, I think that… says something worrying about our democracy.”

Greens want recovery spending focused on green economy The BC Green Party wants the government to commit to spending $500 million of its recovery fund to “creat[e] clean jobs in low-carbon industries” through its CleanBC plan.

“CleanBC can be a big part of delivering the jobs B.C. needs now, over the next 6-12 months and in years to come,” interim party leader said in a statement. “We need to be ​ ​ making investments in the right types of jobs, green jobs, right now. This is happening in other jurisdictions - why not in B.C.?”

Premier and several of his ministers have promised that CleanBC will be “at the ​ ​ core” of the province’s recovery efforts.

Hemingway said greening the economy is also “absolutely essential” to B.C.’s long-term success, adding he’s “optimistic” the province will push ahead on the issue.

“Hopefully, we've learned from the pandemic about the importance of planning ahead for known risks by making sure we're prepared as prepared as possible and making the investments

necessary to deal with what's going to be an even larger crisis — if a slower moving one — in climate change,” he said..

Today’s events July 16 at 8:30 a.m. – Online ​ ​ Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister will discuss the results of serology testing ​ ​ ​ conducted in B.C. (more on this below).

July 16 at 10 a.m. – Online ​ ​ John Horgan will hold his weekly media availability. ​ ​

July 16 at 3 p.m. – Online ​ ​ Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will provide an update on COVID-19 in B.C. ​ ​ ​

July 16 at 7 p.m. – Online ​ ​ Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson will join Roxanne Helme, the party’s 2021 candidate ​ ​ ​ ​ for Oak Bay— Gordon Head, and political strategist Dimitri Pantazopoulos for a “strategic ​ ​ ​ discussion” about the upcoming campaign. The event is part of the party’s Path to Victory ​ conversation series.

Topics of conversation

● B.C. confirmed 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon. ○ There were 207 active cases (down two), with 14 people in hospital, five of them critical. No new deaths were reported, leaving the provincial death toll at 189.

● A preliminary analysis of blood samples collected in B.C. suggests the province is a very ​ ​ long way from achieving community immunity to the coronavirus. Researchers with the University of British Columbia and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control analyzed two sets of samples — one collected in early March and the other in late May — to determine the extent of Covid infections and antibodies in the population. ○ Of the 869 March samples, only two indicated a prior COVID-19 infection (seroprevalence of 0.28 per cent) and neither had detectable antibodies. ○ By May, four of the 885 samples were sero-positive and all four had antibodies. Seroprevalence nearly doubled by the end of May to 0.55 per cent. ○ “We estimate ~8 times more infections than reported cases,” the researchers concluded. ○ The results suggest B.C. has been successful in suppressing transmission of the virus — achieving “amongst the lowest case and death rates in Canada” — but that most of the province’s population remains vulnerable to COVID-19.

● NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert (Vancouver—West End) published an open letter ​ ​ ​ to Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson yesterday, calling on him to remove Laurie ​ ​ ​ Throness (Chilliwack—Kent) from his children and family development critic role and ​ throw him out of the Liberal caucus. The letter — written on behalf of the NDP caucus — outlines several of Throness’ socially conservative and controversial views, including his tacit support for conversion therapy and belief that B.C.’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity program could cause “mental health issues” and “self-harm.” ○ Chandra Herbert called on Wilkinson to act on his party’s commitment to condemning homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination. ○ In response, Wilkinson and Opposition caucus chair whip ​ reiterated that the caucus does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. “It is a condition of being part of our caucus that there is no room for discrimination of any sort, including transphobia and homophobia,” Wilkinson said. ○ Throness has said he plans to continue advertising in the religious paper the ​ ​ Liberals have been criticized for spending taxpayer dollars on.

● A multimillion dollar settlement has been put forward in relation to a slew of lawsuits filed ​ ​ against the Ministry of Children and Family Development on behalf of more than 100 former youth-in-care who were victimized by a Kelowna social worker between 2001 and 2018. Robert Riley Saunders is alleged to have stolen from 102 former clients, forcing ​ ​ some into homelessness. ○ The proposed settlement would see affected individuals paid $25,000, with Indigenous victims receiving an extra $44,000. Those who were made homeless or suffered physical or sexual abuse or exploitation will be able to apply for an additional $118,000 in damages. ○ The BC Prosecution Service is reviewing if criminal charges should be laid against Saunders, who is believed to have moved to Alberta after being fired.

● B.C.’s parks system is chronically underfunded, according to a new report from the ​ ​ Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, which argues reinvesting in parks should be part of the province’s recovery efforts.

News briefs

BCUC taking suggestions for orphan well cleanup ● The BC Utilities Commission has launched a nomination portal where Indigenous ​ ​ communities, local governments and landowners can now identify specific orphan and inactive well sites for reclamation efforts funded by Ottawa’s $1.7-billion investment. ○ B.C.’s share of the federal funding is $120 million. Nominations will remain open through the end of September.

Funding announcements

● The Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training is providing $1.5 million to ​ ​ 20 post-secondary institutions to develop support programs for students with cognitive, mental health or physical disabilities. ○ Another $275,000 will go to BCcampus to develop online resources to support ​ ​ both students and faculty in adapting to online learning, manage stress and understand available financial support.

● Island Health is set to launch a safe supply pilot program with $2 million in federal ​ funding. The four-year pilot will see the Cowichan Valley Wellness and Recovery ​ Centre provide hydromorphone tablets to selected individuals considered to be “at risk ​ of overdose,” as well as offer medical care, mental health and peer support and a personal support plan. ○ This pilot will “provide valuable evidence to support the development of best practices for safer supply programs,” according to Health Canada.

● Jacob Bros Construction Inc. has been awarded a $5.3-million contract to build a ​ 220-metre retaining wall on Highway 14 near Port Renfrew. Construction is expected to begin this month with completion scheduled for next summer. ○ The highway has been reduced to single-lane traffic since November 2018 when significant rainfall caused a slide — the new retaining wall will be the “first step” to restoring two-way traffic, per the transportation ministry.

Question period Liberal MLAs returned to now-familiar talking points during Wednesday’s question period — the NDP government’s plans for economic recovery, the impact its purchase of hotels to house homeless people is having on local businesses and inadequate response to the overdose crisis.

The Greens pushed the NDP to commit to spending one-third of the $1.5 billion in economic recovery spending on creating green jobs through CleanBC while Independent MLA Andrew ​ Weaver queried the government’s decision to suspend BC Hydro’s standing offer program and ​ the impact of the move on independent power producers.