B.C. Premier John Horgan said Monday he hopes to call MLAs back to the legislature next month to start rolling out more COVID-19 supports, but acknowledged that the recent major rise in cases may delay that plan.
One of Horgan’s main promises during his snap election campaign was to provide a $1,000 recovery benefit to families earning a household income of under $125,000, with a sliding scale for families earning up to $175,000.
In his first news conference since the final election count ended on Sunday, Horgan said he can’t guarantee he’ll be able to implement that by year’s end as promised because of the latest public health orders.
“I won’t know what restrictions we will have in terms of getting the legislature back,” Horgan told reporters in the early afternoon.
“I have been advised by finance officials that once the money is appropriated, it won’t take very much time to deposit the money in most cases.”
The benefit will be provided on a sliding scale up to an annual family income of $175,000 a year.
The NDP also promised a one-time $500 direct deposit to single people earning less than $62,000 annually, with a sliding scale up to $87,000, in its successful quest for a majority government.
The new government, with 23 new NDP MLAs, will need to be sworn in once the legislature does get recalled, and then Horgan will need to swear in a new cabinet, filling key posts such as finance, jobs, and transportation, before pursuing new initiatives.
“I’m hopeful we can get that addressed in the next two weeks and then be in the legislature in December,” he said. “There are two months before the end of the year and we plan to be very busy in both of them.”
Monday was also the first time Horgan spoke publicly since provincial health officials announced new restrictions on social gatherings in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions, following shockingly high numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Horgan said the province will transfer more inspectors to the public health team to help enforce the new orders.
“We need to create ways to ensure we are reducing risky behaviour, reducing workplaces that have risky behaviour, and we do that through, I believe, helping for compliance rather than rigorous enforcement.”
B.C. is still on track to reach a capacity of up to 20,000 COVID-19 tests per day in November, he added.
The government is also launching a new campaign to help amplify provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s messages through online and TV advertising.
Finally, Horgan briefly mentioned that the Labour Relations Board was expected to issue a ruling later Monday afternoon regarding public-school employees filing complaints about working conditions.
Barely a week into the new school year in September, the BC Teachers Federation submitted an application to the board in an attempt to force changes to what it called the “haphazard implementation of health and safety measures” amid the pandemic.
In the lead up to kids returning to class, Education Minister Rob Fleming repeatedly said that his government’s back-to-school measures were based on the advice of the provincial health officer and BC Centre for Disease Control, and that the province would work with teachers who were not yet fully comfortable with the “learning group” system and other measures.
During the campaign, Horgan had promised to meet with teachers, administrators and others to discuss those protocols if re-elected.
“There have been discussions about perhaps a better way beyond tribunals and beyond the collective agreement to address these issues,” Horgan said Monday, without going into further detail. “I’m very excited about that.”