Wednesday October 28, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
The Province of BC has formally extended the provincial state of emergency, allowing health and emergency management officials to continue to use extraordinary powers under the Emergency Program Act to support the Province’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
The state of emergency is now extended through to the end of the day on November 10, 2020. “This allows staff to continue to take the necessary actions to keep British Columbians safe and manage immediate concerns and COVID-19 outbreaks,” it was stated in a news release yesterday afternoon.
The state of emergency has been formally extended every two weeks since March 18, 2020, the day after Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry declared a public health emergency. The current extension is the 17th such extension, meaning BC will by November 10 have been in a state of emergency for 34 weeks.
The government can extend the period of a declaration made by the minister responsible (under the Emergency Program Act for periods of up to 14 days at a time. During the 2017 wildfire season, BC was in a provincial state of emergency for 10 weeks (July 7 to September 15).
“A provincial declaration of state of emergency allows the Province to implement provincial emergency measures and allows access to assets that may be necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency. This is a temporary measure authorized by the Emergency Program Act,” it was stated in a release from Emergency Management BC.
Recently re-elected Premier John Horgan said the state of emergency is likely to continue so long as the pandemic is with us in BC.
Should the state of emergency end but the pandemic is still ongoing, the government can utilize their COVID-19 Related Measures Act that came into force on July 10, 2020. That enables provisions created for citizens and businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue as needed.
The new BC government is not yet sworn in since the October 24, 2020 provincial general election (due to the delayed final count which is expected in mid-November, and then it will take even longer to set up the much-revised Legislative Assembly). But when the government was sitting prior to the 42nd General Election it was Mike Farnworth in the role of Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General who announced the continued renewal of the state of emergency.
