“There most certainly will be consequences for those openly ignoring and defying orders that are intended to keep British Columbians safe,” said B.C. public safety minister Mike Farnworth on Sunday
Two Vancouver restaurants have defied provincial health restrictions on restaurant openings.Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
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Businesses putting staff and patrons at risk by remaining open in defiance of COVID-19 rules will face consequences, British Columbia’s public safety minister said Sunday as the province works to bring surging infections under control.
The warning from Mike Farnworth comes after at least two Vancouver restaurants flouted restrictions by serving patrons indoors.
“Harassment of enforcement officials will not be tolerated, and closure orders by Vancouver Coastal Health or any other health authority must be respected,” Farnworth said in a statement.
“There most certainly will be consequences for those openly ignoring and defying orders that are intended to keep British Columbians safe.”
The COVID-19 provincial public health order that bans indoor dining runs until April 19.
Under the government’s new restrictions announced earlier this week, restaurants can only serve patrons on patios or takeout. Both Gusto restaurant in Olympic Village and Corduroy in Kitsilano have indicated they will remain open to serve customers.
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Anyone hosting a non-compliant event can currently be issued a violation ticket of $2,300, while individuals face a $575 fine.
Federico Fuoco, owner of Gusto.Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
Gusto restaurant owner Federico Fuoco, who already had to close one of his restaurants because of the pandemic, says these restrictions will be the “final nail in the coffin” for small business owners.
He says it’s unfair that people are still allowed to cram into malls, eat on ferries, or shop at busy mega-stores like Costco and Walmart. He also questioned why the government is allowing indoor wine tasting to continue.
“Why just our industry? If it was a blanket policy, at least that would be fair. If there are outbreaks, like at the poultry factories, then you isolate that one. But to punish one industry to me, it is discriminatory,” said Fuoco.
Two Vancouver restaurants have defied provincial health restrictions on restaurant openings as a result in the spike of COVID-19 cases. One is Corduroy, which has signs claiming sovereign citizen rights posted in its doorway, although the restaurant was closed Saturday afternoon. The second is Gusto restaurant (pictured) in the Olympic Village.Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
On Friday, Fuoco said he would continue to serve people indoors in defiance of the order to take a stand against the “unfair” measures hurting small restaurants. Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed Saturday that it has issued a closure order to the Salt Street restaurant.
Fuoco said Saturday morning that he is trying to get VCH to lift the order, but he will abide by it for now.
“This order should be lifted immediately. If you are restricting us, you should restrict everybody.”
Fuoco, who is also a Non-Partisan Association board member, said he installed Plexiglas dividers and hand-sanitizing stations and insists he has been following all social distancing rules. He said the expense has become too much for restaurants and he fears many will go under.
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“Restaurants struggle in the best of times when there isn’t a pandemic. Plexiglas is at a premium. It’s like buying gold right now,” he said.
Fuoco added that on a day when it’s raining, there are no customers who want to sit outside.
“Restaurants are worried that come April 19 the order will be extended, and if that’s the case wait and see how many restaurants will close. They will not be able to weather this. What are people supposed to do if they don’t have a patio? They can’t survive on takeout alone.”
Meantime, in a video posted to Instagram Friday, Rebecca Matthews, owner of Corduroy, tells a crowd of anti-maskers that their restaurant is “officially open.”
In her speech, Matthews rails against the government for closing indoor seating, says she distrusts the media, and questions whether the data on the COVID numbers is accurate.
“The cure cannot be worse than the cause, and it’s time to open up our doors,” she said.
At Corduroy Saturday, a sign was posted on the front door claiming sovereign citizen rights. So-called sovereign citizens believe they are exempt from government rules and only follow their particular interpretations of the common law. Some don’t pay their taxes. However, they are not exempt from the law and can face criminal charges and even prison.
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Two Vancouver restaurants have defied provincial health restrictions on restaurant openings as a result in the spike of COVID-19 cases. One is Corduroy (pictured) which has signs claiming sovereign citizen rights posted in its doorway, although the restaurant was closed Saturday afternoon. The second is Gusto restaurant in the Olympic Village.Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
The restaurants have left many people on social media angry and confused at the defiance. In response to the crowd of anti-maskers and Corduroy restaurant, one person wrote:
“Thank you so much for doing your part to contribute to the high number of COVID cases in B.C.! Congratulations on extending closure orders due to your selfish and misguided actions of hosting a large gathering and packing your restaurant full of people.”
Vancouver police spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin says police attended Corduroy on Saturday night after receiving several complaints.
Visintin said the Provincial Health Officer has issued a full closure to the restaurant, but no arrests or tickets were issued by police on Saturday.
“The provincial health authorities will seek further action as they see fit. We will continue to assist under their direction,” Visintin said in an emailed statement.
A video posted to Facebook shows health inspectors presenting Matthews with notices inside her restaurant on Saturday night.
In the clip, which has more than 1,000 shares, Matthews accuses the officials of trespassing while they are serenaded with chants of “get out” by a throng of maskless patrons.
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On its Instagram account Sunday morning, Corduroy said it has “sold out of food” and would close for two days over Easter but vowed to reopen on Tuesday at 4 p.m. despite the shutdown order.
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
Oil companies planning to ship crude on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada are concerned that the project may not begin full service on May 1 but they would be nevertheless obligated to pay tolls from that date.
In a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), Suncor Energy and other shippers including BP and Marathon Petroleum have expressed doubts that Trans Mountain will start full service on May 1, as previously communicated, Reuters reports.
Trans Mountain Corporation, the government-owned entity that completed the pipeline construction, told Reuters in an email that line fill on the expanded pipeline would be completed in early May.
After a series of delays, cost overruns, and legal challenges, the expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline will open for business on May 1, the company said early this month.
“The Commencement Date for commercial operation of the expanded system will be May 1, 2024. Trans Mountain anticipates providing service for all contracted volumes in the month of May,” Trans Mountain Corporation said in early April.
The expanded pipeline will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia on the Pacific Coast.
The Federal Government of Canada bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) from Kinder Morgan back in 2018, together with related pipeline and terminal assets. That cost the federal government $3.3 billion (C$4.5 billion) at the time. Since then, the costs for the expansion of the pipeline have quadrupled to nearly $23 billion (C$30.9 billion).
The expansion project has faced continuous delays over the years. In one of the latest roadblocks in December, the Canadian regulator denied a variance request from the project developer to move a small section of the pipeline due to challenging drilling conditions.
The company asked the regulator to reconsider its decision, and received on January 12 a conditional approval, avoiding what could have been another two-year delay to start-up.
Tesla has announced its profits fell sharply in the first three months of the year to $1.13bn (£910m), compared with $2.51bn in 2023.
It caps a difficult period for the electric vehicle (EV) maker, which – faced with falling sales – has announced thousands of job cuts.
Boss Elon Musk remains bullish about its prospects, telling investors the launch of new models would be brought forward.
Its share price has risen but analysts say it continues to face significant challenges, including from lower-cost rivals.
The company has suffered from falling demand and competition from cheaper Chinese imports which has led its stock price to collapse by 43% over 2024.
Figures for the first quarter of 2024 revealed revenues of $21.3bn, down on analysts’ predictions of just over $22bn.
But the decision by Tesla to bring forward the launch of new models from the second half of 2025 boosted its shares by nearly 12.5% in after-hours trading.
It did not reveal pricing details for the new vehicles.
However Mr Musk made clear he also grander ambitions, touting Tesla’s AI credentials and plans for self-driving vehicles – even going as far as to say considering it to be just a car company was the “wrong framework.”
“If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy I think they should not be an investor,” he said.
Such sentiments have been questioned by analysts though, with Deutsche Bank saying driverless cars face “technological, regulatory and operational challenges.”
Some investors have called for the company to instead focus on releasing a lower price, mass-market EV.
However, Tesla has already been on a charm offensive, trying to win over new customers by dropping its prices in a series of markets in the face of falling sales.
It also said its situation was not unique.
“Global EV sales continue to be under pressure as many carmakers prioritize hybrids over EVs,” it said.
Despite plans to bring forward new models originally planned for next year the firm is cutting its workforce.
Tesla said it would lose 3,332 jobs in California and 2,688 positions in Texas, starting mid-June.
The cuts in Texas represent 12% of Tesla’s total workforce of almost 23,000 in the area where its gigafactory and headquarters are located.
However, Mr Musk sought to downplay the move.
“Tesla has now created over 30,000 manufacturing jobs in California!” he said in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Another 285 jobs will be lost in New York.
Tesla’s total workforce stood at more than 140,000 late last year, up from around 100,000 at the end of 2021, according to the company’s filings with US regulators.
Musk’s salary
The car firm is also facing other issues, with a struggle over Mr Musk’s compensation still raging on.
On Wednesday, Tesla asked shareholders to vote for a proposal to accept Mr Musk’s compensation package – once valued at $56bn – which had been rejected by a Delaware judge.
The judge found Tesla’s directors had breached their fiduciary duty to the firm by awarding Mr Musk the pay-out.
Due to the fall in Tesla’s stock value, the compensation package is now estimated to be around $10bn less – but still greater than the GDP of many countries.
In addition, Tesla wants its shareholders to agree to the firm being moved from Delaware to Texas – which Mr Musk called for after the judge rejected his payday.
