“People are concerned,” : Province to discuss possibility of inter-provincial travel ban with lawyers

Premier John Horgan said the government is seeking legal advice over the next few days to see if they have the ability to ban or restrict inter-provincial travel.

Today (Thursday), he addressed concerns of people from out-of-province still coming to BC when residents continue to make sacrifices of their own during the second wave of the pandemic.

“We want to put this to rest so that British Columbians understand that we cannot do that and we aren’t going to do that or there is a way to do and we will work with other provinces to achieve it.”

“People are concerned about those coming from elsewhere when they are making sacrifices of their own. We saw a whole slew of stories after the Christmas break about politicians who choose to travel, certainly not from the Legislative Assembly but right across the country and this led to a fire storm of frustration and anger because Canadians and British Columbians are making sacrifices.”

The issue of queue-jumping was brought up after Health Minister Adrian Dix vented his frustrations after it was discovered some Vancouver doctors have been getting their second COVID-19 shots ahead of schedule.

The revelation was made through a review of a data base that records when British Columbians get their first and second inoculations.

“We don’t want to waste a drop of vaccine. If people do not come to their appointments or if there are other health care providers or those close at hand that we can immunize, that is happening. Those that deliberately jump ahead of those who are a higher priority that is profoundly disappointing,” added Horgan.

The Premier also provided a further update on the BC Recovery Benefit.

“One-point-four million British Columbians have been approved and 645 million dollars has already left the treasury and is in their bank accounts. When I came back in early January, I returned to a pile of messages from people around BC grateful that those that applied on a Friday and then the following Wednesday saw money in their bank account.”