The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 – Pique Newsmagazine

VANCOUVER – The suspension of BC United’s election campaign left centrist voters in British Columbia “orphaned,” and a new provincial party under the Liberal brand is needed, says former federal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal, who served in the House of Commons for more than a decade in multiple Liberal government cabinet postilions, said Tuesday that he wants to revive a liberal party for those left politically homeless after the BC United collapse in favour of the BC Conservatives.

“There are lots of people, they’re not interested in voting for either, so they feel betrayed and they feel orphaned by what’s happened,” Dhaliwal said Tuesday, referring to the BC Conservatives and the BC United Party.

He said he wants to build a new party for moderate and centrist voters under the name “New Liberal Party of BC” in time for the election on Oct. 19, but Elections BC has rejected the name due to its potential to confuse voters.

Dhaliwal said in a written statement released Tuesday that the former BC Liberal Party that rebranded as BC United was doomed by a “backroom deal” with the BC Conservative Party, leaving moderate voters without a “preferred political choice on the ballot.”

“I personally don’t think it’s good for British Columbia to have this, you know, extreme right and left,” he said in an interview. “This polarization of politics is not good for British Columbia or for the country.”

Dhaliwal, who left his Vancouver-area riding in 2004, said Leader Kevin Falcon’s suspension of the BC United campaign “betrayed” supporters, and the province risks returning to a “dysfunctional” state of “polarizing right versus left combat.”

“Many times people have asked me to come back into politics and I’ve said, No,” Dhaliwal said. “But in this situation, where I think we’re going in really a wrong direction, I felt it was necessary for someone to try to do something about it.”

Dhaliwal said he hopes Elections BC will allow a new party under the name “New Liberal Party of BC” because Kevin Falcon’s BC United Party dissociated from the “Liberal” brand when it changed its name.

Dhaliwal, through lawyer Joven Narwal, has asked Elections BC to reconsider the rejection of the name.

In a letter to the agency dated Sept. 13, Narwal told elections officials that adding “not associated with BC United” or a similar phrase to the ballot could avoid “any conceivable confusion in the minds of voters.”

Elections BC communications director Andrew Watson said Tuesday that the provincial Elections Act prohibits parties from registering if the chief electoral officer believes “its name is likely to be confused with a currently registered political party, a party that has a registration application currently pending, or a party that was registered at any time during the past 10 years.”

Watson said the bracketed phrases proposed by those seeking to register the “New Liberal Party of BC” to avoid confusion with BC United and the former BC Liberal Party still don’t make the cut.

“It’s really, really important that voters have no doubt about which party they’re voting for when they go to mark a ballot and that there’s no possibility for voter confusion,” Watson said. “These rules have been in place for a long time in B.C. elections.”

Dhaliwal said he’s hoping the party name issue can be resolved with the election looming in just over a month.

He declined to reveal who he would want to lead the new party, saying it would be “premature” as they await word from Elections BC.

“We think this is best for British Columbia,” he said. “That’s why we’re making an effort. You know, it’s better to try to do something then later on regret, why didn’t we do anything about it? Why didn’t we try it? We’re trying.

“We’ll see what happens. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, well, that’s part of life,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Faith leaders are calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reverse course on his decision to close 10 supervised consumption sites across the province.

A number of religious organizations came to Queen’s Park on Tuesday and said they were hopeful they could reach Ford’s “humanity.”

Last month, Health Minister Sylvia Jones outlined a fundamental shift in the province’s approach to the overdose crisis, largely driven by opioids such as fentanyl.

Ontario will shutter the 10 sites because they’re too close to schools and daycares, and the government will prohibit any new ones from opening as it moves to an abstinence-based treatment model.

Health workers, advocates and users of the sites have warned of a spike in deaths when the sites close, which is slated for March 31, 2025.

Until then, the faith leaders say they plan to pressure Ford for change.

“I’m hoping that, perhaps, if facts and figures and science and data have all failed, perhaps we have a chance to reach his humanity, perhaps we have an opportunity to try once again to convince him that we are talking about human beings who will die,” said Rev. Maggie Helwig of the Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields.

The faith organizations all work closely, in one form or another, with those addicted to drugs. The sites slated for closure have said they have reversed thousands of overdoses over the past few years.

“We believe that those who are visiting the sites are the folks who have the least resources, the highest need and the least access to privacy and care,” said Bishop Andrew Asbil of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.

“We believe that the sites are in the right place, which means that they are often in places of deprivation and desolation and sometimes that also includes high crime rates.”

Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich of Beth Sholom Synagogue said the province’s decision should not be ideological.

“This is not an issue of where you stand,” he said.

“It’s an issue of where you sit, because if there are people in your family who you sit with at a table who suffer from this blight, from this struggle, you know that most importantly there should be a clear and supportive policy that makes it understandable that people are seen as human beings.”

Opioids began to take a hold in Ontario in 2015 with the rise of illicit fentanyl. Opioid toxicity deaths surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and hit a peak mortality rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, data from the Office of the Chief Coroner shows. That year 2,858 people died from opioids, the vast majority of which contained fentanyl.

The mortality rate dropped to 17.5 deaths per 100,000 people, or 2,593 people, last year, but remains more than 50 per cent higher than in 2019.

The Ford government introduced the consumption and treatment services model in 2018. At that time, the province put in place a cap of 21 such sites in the province, but has only funded 17.

Ford recently called his government’s approach a “failed policy.”

The province said it will launch 19 new “homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs” plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a cost of $378 million.

Jones has said no one will die as a result of the closures and Ford has said advocates should be grateful for the new model.

The government is not going to reverse course, Jones’s office said.

“Communities, parents, and families across Ontario have made it clear that the presence of drug consumption sites near schools and daycares is leading to serious safety problems,” Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Jones, wrote in a statement Tuesday.

“We agree. That’s why our government is taking action to keep communities safe, while supporting the recovery of those struggling with opioid addiction.”

The health minister is encouraging existing sites to apply for the new model so long as they do away with both supervised consumption spaces and a needle exchange program.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s ombudsperson has a list of criticisms for the province over the way it has treated Doukhobor survivors months after the premier apologized for the government’s removal of the children from their families in the 1950s.

A statement from Jay Chalke says the government is being vague about who is eligible for promised compensation, and its communication is so inconsistent and unclear that survivors are coming to his office for help.

Hundreds of children whose parents were members of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor religious group were taken from their homes more than 70 years ago and sent to live in a former tuberculosis sanatorium in New Denver, B.C.

Chalke’s statement says given Eby’s “solemn apology” in the legislature, he’s surprised the province’s follow-up communication fell so short.

He says the government has confirmed that each survivor unjustly taken to New Denver will get $18,000 in compensation, which he says is inadequate as nearly two-thirds of the $10-million “recognition package” is going to other purposes.

The province announced in February that the money would also be used for community programs and education to provide “lasting recognition of historical wrongs” against members of the religious group and their families.

Chalke says the situation is further complicated because the government hasn’t provided clear information to survivors or descendants about any financial consequences of receiving the compensation.

Many of the survivors are living on a fixed income and Chalke says the province needs to make sure that accepting the money doesn’t have negative financial impacts on means-tested programs.

“This is important to ensure that the compensation is not clawed back, for example, through reduced seniors benefits or increased long-term care fees,” his statement says.

“I call on government to develop and share with the community its plan for contacting all survivors and descendants, providing timely, accurate information about government’s compensation program and responding to their questions.”

Chalke says he will be closely monitoring the next steps the government takes and he will continue to report on the situation publicly.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.