Monthly Archives: March 2021

BLAIR GABLE/ReutersPrime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the House of Commons in Ottawa on Feb. 24. Trudeau's minority Liberal government could be defeated by the opposition parties in a confidence vote, which would trigger an election.

OTTAWA A House of Commons committee is unanimously urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to promise he wont call a federal election while the COVID-19 pandemic rages across Canada.

In a report by the procedure and House affairs committee, even Liberal members supported a recommendation calling for a commitment that there will be no election during the pandemic, unless Trudeaus minority Liberal government is defeated on a confidence vote.

The committee makes no similar call for opposition parties to promise not to trigger an election during the pandemic by voting non-confidence in the government.

However, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has vowed his party wont vote to bring the government down as long as the country is in the grip of COVID-19.

That should be enough to ensure the survival of the minority Liberal government for the foreseeable future, unless Trudeau decides to trigger an election himself.

Trudeau has repeatedly insisted he has no interest in forcing an election but opposition parties remain suspicious.

Unfortunately, the Liberal government has already indicated their desire to recklessly send Canadians to the polls at whatever time they deem to be the most advantageous for the prime minister, the Conservatives say in a supplementary report to the committees report.

Indeed, the Conservatives assert, without explanation, that Trudeau has already tried to orchestrate his governments defeat.

They thank Liberal committee members for taking a stand against the whims of the prime minister, who has been eagerly pressing towards an election for the last few months.

At the same time, Conservatives appear to be pursuing a strategy that could give Trudeau justification for calling an election: Liberals accuse the Tories of systematically blocking the governments legislative agenda, including repeatedly delaying a bill authorizing billions in pandemic-related aid.

Theyve also blocked debate on a bill that would give Elections Canada special powers to conduct an election safely, if need be, during the pandemic.

Bill C-19 is the governments response to chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault, who has said special measures are urgent given that a minority government is inherently unstable and could theoretically fall at any time. However, some opposition MPs view the legislation as proof that the Liberals are planning to trigger an election.

In their own supplementary report, New Democrats argue that an election in the midst of the pandemic has the potential to undermine the health of our democracy. They point to the current delay in Newfoundland and Labradors election due to a COVID-19 outbreak as an example of the delays, confusion and unforeseen barriers in voting that could undermine Canadians confidence in the outcome of a federal election.

This raises the spectre of a government whose political legitimacy is openly challenged, the NDP committee members say, adding that could lead to the kind of crisis that provoked a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Watch: Trudeau said he welcomes sorely missed U.S. leadership in his first meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. Story continues below.

The Capitol riot, sparked by Trumps unfounded claims that mail-in ballots were fraudulent, appears to have been on the minds of opposition committee members when it comes to other recommendations for how to safely conduct an election, if necessary, during the pandemic.

Anticipating a massive increase in mail-in ballots, the chief electoral officer has, among other things, suggested that mail-in ballots received one day after the close of in-person polls should still be counted.

The Conservatives say the procedure and House affairs committee should have rejected that proposal, arguing that the election should end on Election Day and Canadians deserve to know the results without delay.

Bloc Quebecois committee members, in their supplementary report, similarly argue that extending the deadline for receipt of mail-in ballots would delay the election results, which would fuel voter suspicion and undermine confidence in the electoral system, which is obviously undesirable.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2021.

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Even Liberals Are Urging Trudeau To Rule Out Calling Pandemic Election - HuffPost Canada

Maryam Kouchaki, an associate professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School, thought there might be another important dimension to the gender leadership gap: women receive less encouragement to apply for senior positions than men do.

Pre-recruitmentthe early phase of a job search, when other employees, recruiters, and human-resources staff identify qualified contacts and encourage them to applyis an increasingly important and common aspect of the hiring process. One survey found that 82 percent of U.S. organizations use social-media platforms such as LinkedIn to contact potential candidates.

When it comes to discrimination and sexism in the workplace, a lot of the research has focused on issues like raises and promotions, which are very important, Kouchaki says. But when you think of the broader issue of underrepresentation, while there are probably many mechanisms at play, we felt like pre-recruitment was crucial in terms of whether women would get excited about a position.

Kouchaki wanted to understand whether recruiters framed positions differently depending on the gender of the prospective candidates. In particular, she was interested in how political ideology might influence pre-recruitment communications.

She and her coauthors focused on political ideology in part because of how that can impact peoples preference for maintaining the status quo. Political conservativism, research shows, strongly predicts a persons preference for the status quowhich, in many organizations, doesnt include women in leadership roles.

For that reason, Kouchaki and her coauthorsBurak Oc of Melbourne Business School and Ekaterina Netchaeva of Bocconi Universitysuspected that conservatives might be less encouraging to prospective female candidates.

And indeed, thats what they found: while conservative recruiters dont actively discourage women from applying, they offer less encouragement to women than to men during the early stage of filling senior positions.

To Kouchaki, the research shows that bias doesnt always manifest as obvious hostility or mistreatment. Subtle discouragement can result in the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions, she says.

Happily, the researchers also discovered that it wasnt hard to overcome the encouragement gap between liberals and conservatives: simply reminding people that women leaders can have a positive effect on an organization was enough to eliminate the disparity in how conservatives treated female and males candidates.

Kouchaki and her coauthors started their investigation by recruiting a group of 222 working adults in the United States.

Participants were asked to imagine themselves as hiring managers browsing LinkedIn to recruit candidates for a senior leadership position. They had come across a promising prospect with strong qualifications and relevant experience: either David Thompson (for half of the participants) or Sarah Thompson (for the other half).

Next, participants were given a list of eight facts about the position to use in an initial email to either David or Sarahhalf positive attributes (e.g., good pay, friendly colleagues) and half negative (e.g., no flexible working hours, skimpy benefits). Participants indicated which of these they would include in an introductory message. They also indicated from one to five how likely they would be to immediately send the email and the probability they would continue searching for other candidates.

Finally, participants answered demographic questions, including questions about their political beliefs and endorsement of traditional gender roles.

The researchers discovered that political ideology didnt have any effect on how likely participants were to contact David or Sarah or their desire to continue searching for other candidates. But it did change the content of those introductory messages: conservative participants, they found, used fewer positive facts about the position when writing to Sarah as opposed to David. Political leaning didnt affect participants use of negative facts, however.

Conservative participants, on average, are not more likely than liberal ones to push more negative information. Theyre just not selling the position to female candidates, Kouchaki explains. That was interesting for usits not a case of hostility; its that you are less inclined to be positive.

The first study showed the researchers that political ideology does influence how decision-makers treat men and women during the pre-recruitment phase of a job search. But it didnt explain whyconservative recruiters treat female candidates differently.

Kouchaki and her coauthors suspected that anxiety about change may have played a role. Conservative political beliefs are characterized by a desire to maintain the current social orderan order that in many cases doesnt include women in leadership positions. And when faced with such a threat, the dominant emotional response is anxiety.

Anxiety here is a reaction to the threat women pose to their status or what they think is the right way to do things, Kouchaki says.

To test this theory, the researchers repeated the first experiment with a larger group of participants and a few tweaks: this time, they asked participants to rank on a one-to-seven scale how anxious they felt at the prospect of interacting with David or Sarah. In addition, participants actually wrote an introductory email, rather than simply indicating which positive and negative facts about the position they would include in one.

The researchers used specialized software to analyze these emails for positive-emotion words; for authenticity (the use of words and expressions associated with uncensored thought); and for personal pronouns (I rather than ita sign of more personal and friendly communication).

As in the first study, political ideology predicted the content of participants emails: when writing to Sarah as opposed to David, more conservative participants used fewer positive-emotion words, less authentic phrasing, and more impersonal pronouns. In other words, the emails werent just less positive; they were also less open and friendly.

Whats more, conservative participants also expressed greater anxiety about interacting with Sarah as compared with Davida feeling that statistically predicted their tendency to write less personal emails.

Having established this subtle bias on the part of conservative hiring managers, the researchers wondered if anything could be done to counter it. They ran one final study to find out.

Once again, they repeated the basic design of the first study with new participants. This time, however, instead of only assigning participants to the David or Sarah group, they added a third option. This group was told they had found a promising candidate named Sarahand were given information about the positive organizational effects of having women in leadership roles.

This information, Kouchaki says, was designed to legitimize and normalize the idea of hiring womensomething they suspected might particularly help conservatives, who feel anxious about social change.

As in the first study, participants indicated which facts about the position they would include in an introductory message. But this time, the researchers weighted each of those facts on the theory that some positives and negatives are more important than others. (After all, good pay is typically more important to job seekers than friendly colleagues, although both are desirable.) They used the quantity and weight of the positive descriptors participants selected to calculate a positivity score for each participants proposed message.

Once again, conservative participants wrote more positive messages to David than to Sarahbut this pattern disappeared among participants in the third group, who learned both about Sarahs professional qualifications and about the importance of hiring women into senior positions.

This final study showed that even small measures can help reduce gender bias.

A simple reminder that hiring women can have organizational benefits was all it took to overcome the encouragement gapa message companies can reinforce during trainings for hiring managers. The power of this small intervention is a sign that legitimizing the presence of women and minority groups in companies is really important, Kouchaki says.

Companies can also use technology to ensure they arent discouraging women from applying, Kouchaki notes. One technology startup saw its number of female employees increase by 30 percent after implementing a text-analysis tool that checks for biased language in job descriptions.

Together, these kinds of interventions can help employees become more mindful about all the interactions they have at work, Kouchaki says: Changing peoples mindsets and attitudes in these more formal ways could have a spillover effect even when it comes to personal interactions.

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Conservatives and Liberals Differ in How Aggressively They Recruit Women for Leadership Roles - Kellogg Insight

Over the past several hundred years, one moral and political philosophy has left a greater mark on the world than any other. Often opposed by other ideologies, it has defeated all those which sought to banish it to the dustbin of history. This philosophy is known as liberalism and continues to have a tremendous influence on modern life.

Somehow, despite its prevalence, a surprising number of people couldn't begin to explain what the philosophy they ostensibly support is or what the arguments in support of it are. To correct this, let's take a look at the philosophy and the ideas and arguments of some of its founders.

Before we begin, I should say that today we are focusing on classical liberalism; it differs from the term "liberalism" as Americans tend to use it and has some significant points of disagreement with its modern decedent. What those are and why they exist are the subject for another time.

Liberalism begins with the assumption that people are or should be free and that restrictions on their liberty must be justified. Liberal thinkers debate the proper role of the state and often agree that it is a limited one which would result in very few restrictions beyond those needed to secure the rights of everybody living under its jurisdiction. When this was first proposed, during an era of absolute monarchy and nearly unchecked power of institutions over individuals, it was a radical claim.

For classical liberals, "liberty" usually means what might be called "negative liberty" today. These liberties are "negative" in the sense that they can be seen as "freedoms from interference." This contrasts with "positive" liberties, which are "freedoms to do" or the capacities to accomplish something. Classical liberalism is very concerned with the right of people to be left alone to live their own lives.

This means a liberal society will let people decide things like their own religion, their idea of what constitutes a good life, and what organizations they want to be a part of, among other things. Importantly, since cohesion is not applied in these areas of choice, people are free to join a church or civic group when it suits them and leave when it suits them and face no government reprisals for it. Liberal theorists typically advocate for tolerance of others to assure that these freedoms of choice are applied to everyone.

Classical liberals also tended to argue that the economy, or some version of it, existed before or independently of the state. As a result, they maintain that the right to private property is natural and should be fairly unlimited. For some thinkers, this also ties into ideas of independence from external authority, as a person with enough property to be more or less financially self-sufficient would be able to tend to themselves and select when to engage with institutions that could help them but might infringe on their rights.

Let's take a closer look at three of the more prominent classical liberal philosophers, what they thought, and why they thought it.

Considered the Father of Liberalism, John Locke wrote two treatises on government attacking absolute monarchy and supporting a more limited view of government. While his conception of liberalism is explicitly based on a theology many people would dispute, his reasoning has been applied in secular conditions to great success.

Like many other thinkers at the time, Locke turned to an idea of what life was like before the existence of governments, known as the state of nature, to make his arguments. For Locke, people in the state of nature were free within the boundaries of "natural law" and generally get along. However, in this condition, there is nobody to turn to if somebody else violates your rights, like if they steal from you, and no neutral arbitrator to turn to if you and somebody else have a dispute.

Locke argues that these issues eventually drive people to want to create a state to protect people's rights by enforcing natural law and acting as a neutral arbitrator when people have disputes.

The state he envisions people would create in this situation is a minimal one that focuses almost exclusively on protecting people's natural rights of "life, liberty, and property." It does not try to determine how people live their lives within the confines of natural law. It tolerates various religions and worldviews- since to promote one above all others would go beyond its prerogatives. It cannot operate in ways contrary to the rule of law, features a representative legislature with majority rule, the separation of powers, and is founded by people explicitly consenting to be governed this way.

His defense of private property is noteworthy. He argues that some variation of the economy exists in the state of nature and that nobody would willingly create a state if it were going to take away their property.

However, he holds that property can only be held if it will be used before it spoils, was acquired by the labor of the person who owns it, and if after acquiring it there is still enough of the resources it is made of left in the commons for the next person. What limits these principles place on a person going into Sherwood Forest in 1690 to cut down a tree to make lumber with and a person trying to start a business today is still debated.

A German philosopher, Kant is widely considered one of the most influential thinkers of all time. He worked in every area of philosophy there was to work in, political philosophy among them.

Kant based his liberalism on the idea of freedom from other people's choices and universal rationality. He maintains that all people have a fundamental dignity as rational and moral beings. This both obligates us to act accordingly and to respect the dignity of others. From this starting point, he argues that the state should exist to assure that individuals enjoy "Freedom, insofar as it can coexist with the freedom of every other in accordance with a universal law."

This freedom is limited by what is consistent with reason but is wide-ranging; a large number of liberties are required for a rational, autonomous person to be able to utilize those capacities. These liberties include the freedom of speech, religion, and the right to pursue happiness in any way a person wants to, so long as it is consistent with everybody else being able to do the same. Anything less than this conflicts with a person's moral autonomy and borders on treating them as a child.

He further argues that no state should make a law that "a whole people could not possibly give its consent to." That means things like laws granting privileges to one group of people and not others would be prohibited, as no rational group would sign a contract giving them the short end of the stick. It allows for other things, such as a generally applied tax of debatable value, as a rational person could consent to such a thing if the arguments for it were sound.

While he thought that an elected representative government was the best option for providing these protections, but didn't rule out other models. He also strongly asserted the necessity of constitutional governance.

While most interpretations of Kant maintain that his idea of freedom is "negative," there is some ambiguity in his writings which led some commentators to suggest he is open to ideas of positive liberty as well. Given his reliance on and admiration for some of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas, this idea is not absurd, though it is difficult to prove.

While better known as an economist, Adam Smith was also a philosopher who considered the problems of society as a whole. Between how important his economics are to classical liberalism and the nuanced approach of his political philosophy, Smith remains an essential figure in the liberal tradition.

Unlike some of the other thinkers we're looking at, Smith thought it was a legitimate goal of government to help the poor and promoting the virtue of society. He went so far as to say:

"...[the] civil magistrate is entrusted with the power not only of restraining injustice, but of promoting the prosperity of the commonwealth, by establishing good discipline, and by discouraging every sort of vice and impropriety; he may prescribe rules, therefore, which not only prohibit mutual injuries among fellow-citizens, but command mutual good offices to a certain degree."

However, this isn't a call for a moralizing government. It is a call for the government to do less than it was at the time.

As he thought with economics, Smith thought society would work best when people were generally left alone to handle things themselves. He argues that people can only develop virtue on their own; if they are only doing it because the government is telling them to do so, they aren't actually virtuous. Additionally, he didn't think that politicians would be very good at promoting virtue or prosperity, suggesting that they can handle issues like defense and criminal justice while leaving other tasks to individuals with better knowledge of the conditions on the ground than far off bureaucrats.

His economics, based on the idea that markets often provide the best possible outcomes when left alone, became the basis for the classical liberal stance on capitalism. While he wasn't quite as opposed to government intervention as many people think, his arguments in favor of fewer restrictions on business meshed well with other liberal ideas on property and freedom.

This overall approach is important in how it differs from our two other thinkers. While Locke and Kant both appeal to natural rights or individual autonomy to support their ideas on liberty, Smith leans on arguments showing how a society that values liberty will be a better place to live in than one that does not, in addition to it being morally defensible.

While few people will want to base their freedom on the idea that it is expedient, the appeal to tangible benefits has proven to be one of the more convincing arguments for liberty.

Many philosophers, arguably starting with John Stuart Mill, continued to work within the liberal tradition but considered the new problems of industrial society, market failures, and what happens when there is no longer a "nature" to take resources from like there was in 1690. Their work, combined with critiques of liberalism from other ideologies, notably socialism and conservatism, led to an evolution of liberal philosophy into the modern version we see today.

Despite some elements of liberal thought dating back to ancient times, the political philosophy of classical liberalism, which changed the world by elevating the rights of man and continues to influence our thinking even as we move past it, is surprisingly young. It achieved a lot in its few hundred years of existence, and its arguments for liberty, equality, democracy, and the right to get on with our lives and business continue to resonate today.

While most people may not be classical liberals anymore, taking time to consider the philosophy is an exercise that we can all benefit from.

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Classical liberalism and three of its founders: explained - Big Think

NSW Liberal MP John Sidoti has joined the crossbench after the state's corruption watchdog announced it would hold a public inquiry into his property dealings.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will probe allegations Mr Sidoti improperly used his influence to advance developments around Five Dock, in Sydney's inner-west, between 2011 and 2018.

Mr Sidoti the Member for Drummoyne stood aside as NSW sports minister in September 2019, after ICAC began investigating his property investments.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Sidoti announced he would "remove himself from the Liberal Party Room" while the investigation was underway.

In a statement, he said he has "always acted with integrity and honour" and "absolutely rejects" the allegations raised against him.

"However, I am concerned that my presence in the Liberal Party Room may be used as a distraction by the media and my political opponents," he said.

"For that reason I have decided to voluntarily remove myself from the Liberal Party Room, and sit on the crossbench, for the duration of the ICAC investigation and I look forward to returning to it after my name has been cleared."

AAP: Joel Carrett

Earlier today, in light of the ICAC announcement, Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed Mr Sidoti had officially resigned from the ministry.

He was referred to ICAC by Greens MP David Shoebridge, just hours after Ms Berejiklian announced a separate review into Mr Sidoti's alleged dealings.

Speaking at a media conference today, Ms Berejiklian said she had limited information about the public inquiry.

"I spoke to him briefly [this morning], he offered his resignation from the ministry, which I accepted and on that basis I will be appointing a new minister in the near future," she said.

The two probes were sparked after Mr Sidoti fronted a fiery budget estimates hearing, where he was grilled over his investments and denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement, ICAC said its public hearings would focus on whether Mr Sidoti improperly influenced others to:

The properties are opposite a site designated by the NSW government for a metro station due to be completed in the next decade.

ICAC is also investigating allegations Mr Sidoti failed to disclose several business and personal financial interests between 2011 and 2019.

Chief Commissioner Peter Hall QC will preside at the public inquiry, and barrister Rob Rankin will be counsel assisting.

At the time he stood down as sports minister, Mr Sidoti said: "The allegations made against me by the media, and exacerbated by the Opposition and the crossbench in budget estimates and Parliament, are false and inaccurate."

"I deny any allegations of wrongdoing. I have no undeclared conflicts of interest or benefits."

Ms Berejiklian said Geoff Lee would continue to serve as Acting Sports Minister until she had determined a replacement.

When the ABC contacted Mr Sidoti's electorate office for comment today, staff said they had not yet been told about the public hearings.

The public hearing will begin on March 29 and is expected to last four weeks.

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NSW MP John Sidoti leaves Liberal Party to sit on crossbench after ICAC announce inquiry into his property dealings - ABC News

There was a rare display of non-partisan agreement at the B.C. legislature Thursday as debate began on bringing municipal election finance rules into line with provincial restrictions on fundraising and campaigns.

Municipal Affairs Minister Josie Osborne, who was mayor of Tofino until the October election, said the changes are mainly based on 2018 recommendations of B.C.s Chief Electoral Officer. They include extending the official campaign period for local elections from 29 to 89 days, restricting third-party donations and preventing local political slates from accepting money for operating expenses between elections.

This new framework will result in elector organizations being treated more like provincial political parties under the Election Act, but continues to accommodate the elements that make local elections unique from provincial elections, Osborne told the legislature March 4. Changes to the rules governing election advertising will enhance the transparency of advertising by making it clear who is sponsoring advertising during the pre-campaign period.

The types of activities that are captured as election advertising will be clarified. This will ensure that paid canvassing activities, such as door-to-door canvassing or canvassing by telephone and mailing election materials on a commercial basis, will be subject to election advertising rules.

RELATED: B.C. political parties reap millions from subsidies

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B.C. Liberal MLA Dan Ashton, a former mayor of Penticton, said he expects his fellow opposition members to support the legislation after detailed discussion. He said the inclusion of paid canvassers as a registered advertising expense and the a $1,200 cap for third parties donating are overdue reforms. He expects more debate on a change that allows campaigning politicians and canvassers into strata condo units.

It provides Elections B.C. with additional penalties to fine people who do not comply with the rules and the process, and it also removes the 30-day local residency requirement in order to vote, as that has pros and cons, Ashton said.

It allows access for strata properties and other properties for canvassing. I look upon my peers that are from the Lower Mainland and look at all those large towers inhabited by residents and wonder how they have the opportunity to be able to show those residents what they want to do for them. Thats a difficult process, and I hope that that also comes into consideration in the future.

Jinny Sims, NDP MLA for Surrey Panorama, welcomed new restrictions on pseudo-parties that operate as electoral organizations in civic elections. Osborne noted that election slates or municipal parties are mainly a Lower Mainland phenomenon now, but with technology and advertising changing quickly, the province needs to be ready to regulate elections for councils, school boards and regional districts.

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BC Liberals, NDP sing in harmony on local election reforms Coast Mountain News - Coast Mountain News

Another socially distanced legislative session began this week, this one marked by COVID-related issues, a two-month delay of the provincial budget and an Opposition bench tasked with holding a majority government in check during a pandemic.

Our job as the Official Opposition is to hold the government to account, interim BC Liberal Leader Shirley Bond said. That's going to be a challenging job with a significant majority in the legislature, but we have a skilled team.

One immediate challenge will be the delayed provincial budget. The legislative session will run until June 17, with some breaks, and the budget will be presented on April 20.

Typically tabled every year in mid-February, governments were legally bound to present a budget by the end of March. However, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act 2020, passed in December, extends the deadline to April 30 when a budget follows an October election, as it does this year.

British Columbians deserve to know the financial state of our province, Bond said. We should have had that discussion. The budget should have been tabled by now.

In December, the Liberals voted against the legislation containing the extension.

We really don't see a need why it had to happen, said BC Liberal House Leader Peter Milobar, who is also MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson. We said this would create uncertainty with groups. It was brushed off by government.

Now, as session begins two weeks after a budget would normally have been introduced, agencies, businesses and associations are starting to get worried, he said.

I've spent this week on a lot of Zoom calls with agencies and organizations that don't know what the budget delay will, or won't, mean to them, Milobar said prior to the start of the legislative session. It's incumbent on the government, they're the ones that have delayed this budget, to provide that certainty.

The December legislation also included a provision to extend special warrant spending authority to keep essential funds flowing if the budget and estimates are presented after the beginning of the new fiscal year April 1 for most businesses and institutions which will be the case this spring.

It is not intended to provide for new program spending, but, rather, to provide for continuation of the operations of government until a supply act can be passed by the Legislative Assembly, Finance Minister Selina Robinson told the legislature on Dec. 9.

Any enhanced or expanded programming cannot happen until a new budget is introduced, Milobar said.

Meanwhile, the government will have four weeks to introduce legislation prior to the Throne speech, which occurs one week before the budget.

I'm assuming the government will have work for legislators to do. We'll have to wait and see what that agenda looks like, said Bond, who is MLA for Prince George-Valemount and who will be attending the session in person for the first time since the pandemic began. Previously, she attended via Zoom, as do the majority MLAs due to public health restrictions.

The top priority is the pandemic and the health and well-being of British Columbians, but people are also concerned about economic issues, Bond said.

How is British Columbia going to emerge as we move ahead? she asked. Sectors, like the tourism sector, that have been decimated by COVID, what will the government do to support and energize that sector?

Last year, the province announced $105 million in funding for the sector, along with the creation of a task force made up of tourism and hospitality industry representatives to disperse the funding.

We're going to be highlighting the challenges that the Horgan government has created for small businesses and for British Columbians a quarter of a billion dollars sitting on the sidelines because the government couldn't manage the to get it out the door, Bond said, referencing the $280 million or so in COVID-19 relief funding still not disbursed from $300 million designated for small and medium-sized businesses.

The program is set to expire on March 31, when any remaining funding will be rolled back into the provincial government coffers, Premier John Horgan confirmed in February.

They've made lots of commitments and many of them they've yet to deliver, Bond said.

There's going to be no shortage of questionable situations around how the premier and his ministers have been handling their files, Milobar added. We're all very focused on wanting to shine a light on the shortcomings of the government's response to a wide range of issues.

Additional priorities for the Opposition will include scrutiny of the vaccination rollout and continued calls for rapid testing in long-term care and schools, said Bond, who is also the Opposition critic for seniors services and long-term care.

There will be lots of debate and dialogue, she said. It's going to be a very intense session.

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Opposition BC Liberals vow to hold government to account as new session begins - Kamloops This Week

OTTAWA - The federal Liberals are setting aside some of the billions of dollars planned in short-term transit spending to help municipalities further green their bus fleets.

The hope is that the $2.75 billion in traditional grant money will dovetail with the $1.5 billion an infrastructure-financing agency is supposed to invest toward the same cause.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna says the grant money is supposed to help cover the upfront cost of purchasing electric buses to replace the diesel-powered ones rumbling through Canadian streets.

She says federal funding has helped cities buy 300 buses and the government hopes the funding will help them add 5,000 zero-emission buses over the next five years.

But she acknowledged there are added costs that need to be addressed, including having charging stations on transit routes and in existing depots.

The Liberals are hoping cities then turn to the Canada Infrastructure Bank to finance the cost of the remaining work.

The banks chief executive, Ehren Cory, says the energy savings expected from not having to buy diesel could, for instance, be used to pay off a low-interest loan from his agency.

Its quite a from-the-ground-up reinvestment and the savings will pay for a lot of that, but not for all of it, he said, via video link.

Thats why the combination of a grant from the government, a subsidy, combined with a loan against savings together will allow us to get the most done, allow us to make wholesale change quickly and do so at minimal impact to taxpayers.

Garth Frizzell, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, welcomed the funding as a way to speed up work in cities to replace diesel buses.

We are already putting more electric vehicles on our streets, and this major funding to electrify transit systems across the country will reduce GHG emissions, boost local economies, and help meet Canadas climate goals, he said in a statement.

McKenna made the same connections multiple times during an event Thursday in Ottawa, where she stood near the citys mayor, Jim Watson, with Cory and Industry Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne joining by videoconference.

Joanna Kyriazis, senior policy adviser at Clean Energy Canada, noted that the investments could help the countrys six electric-bus manufacturers scale up to compete internationally.

As Canada develops its battery supply chain from raw metal and mineral resources to our North America-leading battery recycling companies we must build the market for electric vehicles and their batteries at home, she said in a statement.

The Liberals are promising billions in permanent transit funding as part of a post-pandemic recovery, including $3 billion annually in a transit fund starting in five years.

Cities have seen transit ridership plummet through the pandemic as chunks of the labour force work remotely. Demand for single-family homes well outside urban cores suggests some workers are expecting remote work to become a more regular fixture of their post-pandemic work lives.

McKenna said her thinking about public transit hasnt been changed by that shift, saying her only thought is that Canada needs more and better systems. Its up to cities and transit agencies to set routes and priorities, she said.

The reality is many of our essential workers have no other option than to take public transit. And I think weve recognized how important it is for people to be able to get around in a safe way, McKenna said.

Conservative infrastructure critic Andrew Scheer questioned whether the Liberals could follow through on the promise, adding that the infrastructure bank hasnt completed a project.

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The Trudeau Liberals keep announcing the same money but cannot get anything built, he said in a statement.

You cant take a Liberal re-announcement to work. Electric or not, they just cant get the job done.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2021.

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Liberals tap $2.5B of promised transit dollars for zero-emission buses - TheRecord.com