Sunday October 11, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC [Last update 1 pm]
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Sunday October 11 is Thanksgiving Sunday and also Day 20(*) on the Election BC campaign trail (*calling September 21 as Day 1, the day the election was called). Thanksgiving long weekend runs through Monday October 12.
The Provincial General Election Day is on Saturday October 24. Advance voting and voting-by-mail are available. Elections BC info.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which requires physical distancing, most campaign activities are done remotely online, both for the media and the voter audiences.
All Candidates Meetings are posted on the Island Social Trends Events page.
BC NDP: On Sunday October 11, BC NDP incumbent Katrina Chen (Burnaby-Lougheed) made an announcement at 9:30 am about delivering affordable access to health care and fighting gender inequality, by saying a re-elected NDP government would offer prescription contraception to women at no cost.
The initiative would cost about $60 million per year, said Chen, but added it would save much more in the bigger picture in terms of preventing unplanned pregnancies and all the socioeconomic consequences of those scenarios — both for individuals and families as well as the government in the longer term.
The cost of purchasing oral contraceptives for women is estimated at about $10,000 during her reproductive years, said Chen.
Chen was joined at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront in downtown Vancouver by BC NDP candidate Tesicca Truong (Vancouver-Langara) and Dr Ruth Habte, Access BC member an ob-gyn physician specializing in reproductive health at UBC.
Dr Habte noted that condoms for men are much cheaper than pharmaceutical contraception for women, and generally freely available. It was also noted in the call that the cost of vasectomies for men are covered under the Medical Services Plan in BC.
Today’s overall initiative is about the BC NDP’s policy to “end period poverty”. Today is the International Day of the Girl.
BC NDP: At 9:25 am, this event was suddenly “postponed to a later date” (likely because this is Thanksgiving, not a day for visceral attacks). As previously posted: On Sunday October 11, BC NDP candidates Nathan Cullen and Jen Rice will hold a press conference on Zoom at 10:45 am to demand that the BC Liberal Leader be held to account for decisions he made that have affected their communities in northern BC.
BC NDP candidate Bowinn Ma was the subject of personal attack by a BC Liberal candidate in a BC Liberal town hall yesterday, and Twitter is all a flurry about it. Here is our editorial on being thankful for socioeconomic change.
BC Liberals: at 8:45 am this morning, the BC Liberal Party released a statement in which BC Liberal candidate Michelle Stilwell is quoted as saying a BC Liberal government would cover costs for senior drivers who face medical exams. Under the current system, at age 80 and every two years thereafter, drivers must be assessed by their doctor and submit a Driver Medical Examination Report to RoadSafetyBC. This serves a relatively small sector of the population, i.e. seniors over 80 who are still driving, when clearly even the government policy (by requiring medical examination) considers it very likely unsafe, and seniors for whom driving is still a major transportation option. The fee being offered for full coverage is in the range of up to $200. This is a very small-dollar promise that sounds much bigger than it is.
BC Green: BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau on Sunday October 11 will meet with her party and stakeholders in the morning, and prepare in the afternoon for the October 13th leader’s debate.
This morning around 6 am on Thanksgiving Sunday, the BC Greens released a 3-minute video about their leader “as a relentless underdog who puts people above politics” and how she became leader of the BC Green Party.
A televised leaders debate will be held on Global TV on Tuesday October 13 from 6:30 to 8 pm.
