Dix rallies province for the battle of a lifetime Emotional appeal to public follows declaration of state of emergency
B.C. is hunkering down for the battle of a lifetime against COVID -19 with a government declaration on Wednesday of a general state of emergency and a public plea from the health minister reminiscent of a wartime call for unity.
“It’s not too late to join the fight,” Adrian Dix said twice during his daily news conference with Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer.
“Today I would say for anyone who hasn’t joined in this effort, who has been reluctant to join in these very explicit measures we can do to help one another, to help protect one another’s health, I’d say it’s not too late to join the fight.” Dix and Henry repeated their daily calls for the public to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, reminding us to practice social distancing, wash our hands, avoid touching our faces, cough or sneeze into our elbows, and stay home if we’re sick.
“We are asking you to take part today, to take your civic responsibility. … your responsibility and our responsibility as human beings to one another,” Dix said. “We need you to join in and we need you to do it now, today, this moment, without judgment.”
Hours earlier, the B.C. government declared a general state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will recall the legislature for an extraordinary bare-bones session to pass a law forbidding companies from laying off employees for being sick during the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Solicitor General Mike Farnworth. “These are extraordinary times.”
The emergency declaration will give Farnworth sweeping powers to make orders without the legislature, including to “secure the supply chain,” ration supplies, set prices for food and gas, forbid the resale of certain supplies such as medical equipment, procure any other type of goods government deems necessary, enter any building without a warrant and restrict travel throughout the province.
“The declaration does give us broad and sweeping powers to direct resources, whether they be human resources or other resources, to deal with the state of emergency in the province,” said Farnworth. “But what we are seeing is people stepping up and coming forward. That’s what we do in this province. I do not believe I’m going to have to use a power to force people to do what they instinctively know is the right thing to do.”
The state of emergency will last two weeks, but can be renewed by cabinet order.
The legislation will amend the Employment Standards Act to enshrine new protections for workers and make sure they don’t lose their jobs if they’re sick or require self-quarantine during the pandemic.
Farnworth said B.C.’s supplies for grocery stores, pharmacies and other businesses remain strong and discouraged people from hoarding or price-gouging.
“I understand people’s concerns about wanting to make sure that they have enough supplies at home if they have to self-isolate,” he said.
“But the reality is this: Our supply chains are in good shape. People need to use common sense.”
Farnworth said the main purpose of the declaration is to back up the provincial health officer, who declared a provincial health emergency on Tuesday. That gave her the power to issue orders, declare quarantines, and take other measures, which can be enforced by police.
The health emergency declaration also gave Dix the ability to make regulatory changes without cabinet approval and changes to the Public Health Act without the legislature during the duration of the emergency.
B.C. declared a provincial state of emergency in 2017 and 2018 because of wildfires.
The minimum number of MLAs necessary to make quorum — 10 MLAs plus a Speaker and committee chair — will meet at the legislature on Monday afternoon to quickly accomplish the necessary business, Farnworth said.
It will be a co-operative effort of the NDP, Opposition Liberals and Green party, which have agreed to work together to waive the usual waiting times for passage of a bill.
“All three parties have agreed that this isn’t a time for partisanship,” said the Liberal house leader Mary Polak. “As the Opposition, certainly we’ll want to pose the appropriate questions about the legislation that comes forward, but we also recognize there’s a need for government to act with some speed.”
It’s too early to even evaluate the effectiveness of any government actions, said Polak.
“This is a time for everybody to come together. And we’re in early days.”
Monday’s legislative session, which will last just a few hours, will also pass an “interim supply” bill to allow government to keep spending even though the provincial budget tabled in February has not been passed. Without such a measure, the government would run out of money March 31.
The interim supply bill is expected to give the government nine months of spending authority, instead of the usual four months, meaning the legislature could potentially remain adjourned for the rest of the year if necessary.
Meantime, many British Columbians are eager to learn how the province plans to use its portion of an economic aid packing totalling as much as $82 billion in direct and indirect supports, announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.
B.C. Premier John Horgan said his government is working on the details of B.C.’s plan for the federal money.
Wednesday morning, the Canadian and U.S. governments took the extraordinary step of barring travellers from crossing for “recreation and tourism” purposes.
Almost 90 per cent of B.C. small businesses are already reporting lost sales, cancelled contracts or layoffs due to the COVID-19 response, according to a new B.C. Chamber of Commerce survey.
“They’re treading water right now, but they can’t do that for too long,” CEO Val Litwin said of the thousands of businesses in need of that “life ring.”
In B.C.’s neighbouring state of Washington, there were 1,187 confirmed coronavirus cases and 66 deaths, according to its Department of Health.
B.C. now has 231 confirmed cases of COVID -19, Dix and Henry said Wednesday. Of those, 144 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region, 58 in the Fraser, 16 on Vancouver Island, nine in the Interior and four in the Northern region.
Seven people have died and 13 patients are in acute care.
Dix said testing has been rapidly ramped up and expanded to five locations across the province so that at least 17,000 people have now been tested, up from 6,225 last Friday.
He and Henry also called on British Columbians to donate blood due to an urgent need identified by Canadian Blood Services.