HORGAN POISED TO ACT
Premier didn’t ask for coronavirus crisis, but he’s made one bold call after another
The John Horgan government this week responded to the novel coronavirus crisis by closing schools, cancelling thousands of surgeries and casting its three-year balanced budget and fiscal plan into doubt.
Premier Horgan and his ministers also signalled there is much more to come from this ambitious and activist government in response to the pandemic. Legislation is in the works to protect workers who stay home because they are sick or have to self-isolate in response to the virus. Protection will be extended to workers in the gig economy, those on contract and the self-employed.
“We are finding ways to help those businesses that are (employing) five and 10 people and just can’t keep the doors open because no one’s coming in those doors,” said Horgan.
There will likely be relief for tenants and small businesses squeezed by unforgiving landlords. Help is also on the way for at-risk populations at the lower end of the economic scale. The premier hinted at relief for folks who can’t afford to pay their B.C. Hydro bills.
Hydro itself responded to concerns about the vulnerability of the workforce on the dam now under construction at Site C on the Peace River.
“B.C. Hydro will work with project contractors and unions to safely scale back certain construction activities at the project site,” the utility announced by press release Wednesday.
But there will be no reducing “the work required to achieve river diversion in the fall of 2020.”
The Peace can only be diverted during the period of reduced water flow in early fall. The diversion is already a year behind schedule. Another missed target would probably mean a one-year delay in completing the project, now set for 2024.
Also on Wednesday, solicitor general Mike Farnworth invoked his power under the Emergency Program Act to declare a provincewide emergency in connection with the virus.
The declaration gives the solicitor general extraordinary powers to “do all acts and implement all procedures that the minister considers necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency or a disaster.”
Among other things he can: “Acquire or use any land or personal property. Require any person to render assistance of a type the person is qualified to provide.
“Control or prohibit travel to and from any part of B.C. Authorize the entry into any building or onto any land, without warrant, by any person ... if considered by the minister to be necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency or disaster.”
Most important, in a time of hoarding and prospective price gouging, Farnworth can “procure, fix prices for, or ration food, clothing, fuel, equipment, medical supplies or other essential supplies for the duration of the state of emergency.”
The initial declaration is for only two weeks, but can be extended as necessary by cabinet order.
The main purpose of the initial declaration is to backstop provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. She declared a health emergency under the Public Health Act Tuesday, giving her the power to issue verbal orders, quarantines and other measures that can be backed by police.
Notwithstanding the sweeping powers granted to himself and Dr. Henry under the legislation, Farnworth doubted they will be needed, at least in the short-term.
“What we are seeing is people stepping up and coming forward,” he told reporters. “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.”
However, if the outbreak extends into the fall or next year as some experts suggest, then public patience could fray along with the spirit of co-operation. In that event, the emergency powers may have to be used to impose quarantines or prevent hoarding, price gouging and other abuses.
But for now the New Democrats enjoy broad support for the measures they are taking, including from the business and investment community and the B.C. Liberal Opposition.
Was it only a few months ago that Horgan thought his biggest challenge of the year would be implementing no-fault auto insurance?
And just weeks ago, that his media briefings were dominated by questions about protests over the Coastal GasLink pipeline?
It’s the nature of government to be consumed by challenges never contemplated when running for office.
“Events, dear boy, events,” as British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan is reputed to have said when asked what knocked his government off course.
When I mentioned that prospect to the premier the other day, he said he’d figured the biggest emergency he’d face in office would be wildfires. He then conceded that with the virus outbreak, events have taken on a whiff of the Old Testament. Is a plague of locusts next?
But the outbreak has also focused the public mind on the basics, as Horgan also noted this week in listing questions he hears again and again from across the province:
“Will I continue to receive a paycheque? Is my job secure? Can I pay my rent? Is my business going to get through this?”
Those questions echo the affordability platform that Horgan took into the last election. He ran as an activist and formed government with the Greens on a largely activist program.
John Horgan didn’t ask for this challenge — who would? But he’s well suited to rise to it, given the agenda that got him to the premier’s office in the first place. Vpalmer@postmedia.com