B.C. won’t buckle to protester pressure, will lift restrictions as pandemic allows: Horgan

B.C.’s premier says his province won’t bow down to the demands of protesters, saying COVID-19 restrictions will begin lifting only when the situation allows.

John Horgan’s comments came after the throne speech was delivered in Victoria Tuesday. It also came after protests across the country have been demanding for the easing of pandemic measures for days.

Horgan says his government won’t be pressured to lift restrictions, especially by protesters.

“People want to put COVID behind them, I get that. But we want to make sure that we don’t do it in a reckless and cavalier manner just because a small minority are honking horns. We want to make sure that the sacrifices that businesses, workers, and communities have made over the past two years are not just thrown away because of some noise out on the legislative lawn,” he said.

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“We’re going to follow the same path that we have been on since the pandemic began and that is to take advice and counsel from public health officials who are working with our acute care system and working with others in the community to make sure that we’re continuing to protect people,” Horgan added.

On Feb. 1, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said we could soon begin looking at the gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions in B.C. should hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and daily case counts allow.

“As we’ve done previously … it will be increasing the dimmer switch, gradually turning up the dial so that we can do this cautiously and not put people at risk as we’re getting close and closer to the end of this wave,” she said.

Many of the current public health measures are set to expire on Feb. 16.

A number of other provinces, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec, have already announced their plans to lift restrictions.

In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney announced Tuesday the end of the province’s vaccine passport system. The Restrictions Exemption Program expired as of midnight Wednesday, as part of Alberta’s first phase on its “path back to normal.”

He also announced a number of other measures that would lift as part of Stage 1, though many have raised questions and concerns about the plan.

-With files from Liza Yuzda and Denise Wong