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A shortage of COVID tests combined with exorbitant fines is stranding Canadian travellers outside their homeland

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It may be unpopular to stand up for travellers during COVID-19, but violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should concern every Canadian. Reports coming out of the U.S. suggest our federal government is de facto denying Canadian citizens a key right : the one to enter, remain in, or leave Canada.

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The violation comes in the face of severe testing shortages. Increasingly, Canadians who travel to the U.S. are unable to secure the negative COVID molecular test result that is required within 72 hours of their return home. This even includes those who have pre-booked tests. In response, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Canada Border Services Agency are presenting these Canadian citizens with two options: being denied entry or paying exorbitant fines of $6,200 per person to enter the country.

One Canadian woman who drove south with her mother and brother to visit family over the holidays, only to have pre-booked tests cancelled in the face of the shortages, reports border officials told her they could return to Canada only if they accepted the $6,200 per person fine a sum totalling $18,600. The trio offered to quarantine in Canada, but there is currently no quarantine option available. They had to turn back. Its not a choice for us to cross and take the fine, she told the CBC.

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Violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should concern every Canadian

Thats the crux of the issue. The fines are so excessive, so punitive that theyre not a real choice when tests are so scarce. They would push most individuals, and certainly most families, into significant debt. If accepting them is the only option to enter Canada when accessing tests is practically impossible, then Canadian citizens are in effect being denied their right to entry. It seems unlikely the practice would survive a court challenge.

The government justifies the fines by pointing to advisories against nonessential travel. However, theyre just that advisories. Even if you think its entirely boneheaded and irresponsible to travel right now, that doesnt change the fact that its every Canadian citizens right to leave and re-enter the country freely. Infringing on this right should be concerning, no matter how one feels about travellers. There are no charter exemptions for schadenfreude.

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Its important to point out that these border fines differ significantly from fines levied earlier in the pandemic against travellers who refused to stay in quarantine hotels. In those cases, Canadian citizens werent effectively being denied entry. They were being fined for a choice made once inside the country.

Without getting into the argument over whether its absurd for the Canadian government to insist on tests for returning travellers when theres already ample community spread within our borders, there are two obvious solutions for bringing policies back in line with the charter. The first is to reduce fines to a level the majority of Canadians could afford although even this may be problematic as it could disproportionately bar lower income citizens from re-entry. The second is to offer a realistic quarantine option, which if not followed, can result in larger fines. This must happen until, at the very least, molecular tests return to widespread availability.

While its clearly important to protect Canadians from COVID-19 spread, those measures must adhere to the charter and avoid infringing upon liberties when alternatives are available. The right to freely leave and re-enter Canada is one of the most important and must be reinstated in full, without draconian fines that present only a veneer of choice.

National Post

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Sabrina Maddeaux: The Liberals are denying citizens their charter right to re-enter Canada - National Post

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Opinion: He was branded the candidate of the status quo and the old style of politics during the final scheduled debate of the campaign.

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VICTORIA Former provincial cabinet minister Kevin Falcon got a rough ride this week during a televised debate with rival candidates for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal party.

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Falcon was branded the candidate of the status quo and the old style of politics during the final scheduled debate of the campaign, broadcast Tuesday night on Global TVs BC1.

He was also accused of making backroom deals and turning a blind eye to abuses in signing up new members to the party.

He was even faulted for lacking a seat in the legislature if he wins the leadership on Feb. 5, it would stick the party with a delay of up to a year to line up a seat for him in a byelection.

Falcon turned around the charge of being yesterdays man, framing himself as the candidate of experience, who has held the major cabinet jobs (finance, health, transportation) and who knows his way around governing.

On the membership issue, Falcon gave as good as he got in the sharpest exchange of the night with MLA Michael Lee, who faulted him for not joining the others in flagging membership irregularities.

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Instead of standing with all the candidates here on this debate stage to ensure that members can have the confidence in the process to elect the next leader of our party, charged Lee, you accuse the party of racism and you use racialized members of our party as a shield, which is just another example of the old style of politics that you have.

Falcon fired back that Lee had failed to produce any evidence of fraud in membership signups.

There were some administrative errors and mistakes made, which, by the way, is not uncommon for new people getting involved in the party, he said. Just because people have trouble filling out some forms does not mean they should be dismissed as members of this party.

Falcon twice denied the insinuation of backroom dealings from Val Litwin, the former CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce.

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Litwin cited no evidence.

But as with the alleged membership abuses, the mere making of the charge will raise suspicions in some quarters.

Whether B.C. Liberal supporters welcomed Tuesdays rough stuff, it surely was welcome grist for the mill with the New Democrats.

Take Falcons dated characterization of NDP MLAs as mere time servers: This is the best job theyll ever have, and theyll hang onto it like a drowning person with a life raft.

The NDP research department pounced on that one immediately.

What kind of jobs is Falcon mocking? the New Democrats fired back in a mid-day media release. B.C. NDP MLAs have worked as teachers, firefighters, bus operators, farmers, small business owners, police officers, engineers, millwrights, nurses, flight attendants, social workers, and more.

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The New Democrats then riffed on Falcons statement that the return to politics from his current executive position with Anthem Capital Corp. would mean a financial sacrifice for him.

The leader of the official opposition makes $166,536 a year, said the NDP release.Kevin Falcon might think only rich real estate developers have worthwhile jobs, but most British Columbians would disagree.

When he mocks B.C. NDP MLAs for having regular jobs, he mocks all working British Columbians. Hes showing hes in it for people at the top and would make everyone else pay the price.

The attacks on Falcon confirmed his status as the presumed front-runner for the B.C. Liberal leadership.

But the gang-up also indicates why Falcon may stall on the way to winning the balloting.

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Leadership candidate Gavin Dew highlighted the challenge when he asked party members to support him or make me your second choice.

The B.C. Liberals use a preferential ballot in their leadership contests.Members can mark first, second, third choices, and so on.If no candidate wins a majority on the first count of the ballots, the lowest vote-getter is dropped.

Members second choices are then added to the tallies of the remaining candidates.The process is repeated until one candidate assembles a majority.

The transfers mean that a candidate who is behind on the first ballot can put together a win in subsequent rounds.

Nor is that a hypothetical outcome, as Falcon well knows.

The co-chair of his leadership campaign, former Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, was in first place on the first count of the ballots in the 2018 Liberal leadership race.

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But not that far ahead. She had only 25 per cent support, with the remainder split among five other candidates.Watts remained in first place through three subsequent rounds, only to lose on the fifth count to MLA Andrew Wilkinson.On the first count, Wilkinson had been in third place, six percentage points behind Watts.

The determining dynamic of the 2018 leadership contest was the outsider Watts versus Wilkinson and three other current and one former B.C. Liberal MLAs.

When the MLAs dropped out, more of their alternative choices went to Wilkinson than to Watts.

If this weeks gang-up on Falcon is any indication, a similar dynamic could emerge in the current leadership.

The most likely beneficiaries would be incumbent MLA Ellis Ross, the former chief councillor of the Haisla nation, or Lee, who finished third in 2018.

On that basis, Falcon probably needs to win on the first count of the ballots in February, or be so far ahead that the others cant catch up on later counts.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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Vaughn Palmer: Kevin Falcon the B.C. Liberal leader front-runner, but it's not in the bag - Vancouver Sun

Six of Saskatchewans largest unions, representing 113,000 front-line workers, are demanding stricter COVID-19 regulations.

Union leaders in the healthcare and education sectors are demanding the province implement a gathering limit of 10, creation of a new public health order to limit non-essential contacts, establishing a consistent bubble, and enforce reducing non-essential travel between communities.

Tracy Zambory, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, says workers are stretched thin and health-care facilities dont have staff or space for more patients.

Involved organizations include the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union, and the Service Employees International Union West.

Saskatchewans chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahad said a peak in cases could come in the next two weeks, in light of record-high positivity.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe denounced lockdowns last week, and continues to provide justification for that decision. He caught COVID-19 the next day.

ICU admissions and COVID-19 related deaths remain significantly lower than other provinces that have strict lockdown policies in effect, said Moe on Twitter.

Omicron is spreading across Canada and around the world, whether there are lockdown policies in place or not, so we are not going to impose new restrictions and lockdowns that cause significant harm for no clear benefit.

Moe pointed out there have been zero COVID-19 deaths in the province in nearly two weeks, compared to more than 700 COVID-19 related deaths in Quebec this month.

Saskatchewans current hospitalization rate is 16 per 100,000 population and our current ICU rate is 1.5 per 100,000 population, said Moe.

Quebec has had the most extreme lockdowns policies in Canada since before Christmas, and their current rates are about 40 hospitalizations and 3.3 ICU admissions per 100,000 population more than double Saskatchewans rates.

The Saskatchewan government has not responded to the union demand or updated restrictions since January 12.

Ewa Sudyk is a reporter with the Western Standardesudyk@westernstandardonline.com

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Liberals removed tax breaks, 86% of middle class will see higher income taxes - Western Standard

THE BC Liberals on Thursday said they were renewing their calls for the NDP to focus on increasing housing supply something the Housing Minister has only recently conceded is critical to improving affordability as the cost of housing in British Columbia continues to soar to new heights.

After more than half a decade of blaming B.C.s housing crisis on speculators, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing David Eby hasfinally begun to acknowledgethe need to get serious about increasing housing supply, said Ben Stewart, BC Liberal Critic for Housing. We have beensounding the alarm on this for years, but the NDP were too busy scapegoating andblaming everyone but themselves for the problem, wasting precious time that could have been used to fast-track the construction of housing that is desperately needed in B.C. We need to see a massive investment in building new homes in this province from affordable rental units, to new homes for sale but unfortunately, the NDP has built lessthan 5 per cent of the housing units they promised in their 10-year plan.

The BC Liberals pointed out that in 2017, the NDP promised to build 114,000 new homes over 10 years. Four years later, only 5,269 units have been completed, and 1,109 of those were first announced by the previous BC Liberal government. In the current market, the National Bank reports it would take 34 years to save for a down payment on a home in Vancouver and renters are paying $2,532 more per year under the NDP versus 2017. Meanwhile, inflation was up 3.9 per cent year over year in December, marking six straight months of elevated inflation above 3 per cent.

The NDP has spent years talking while taking no real action on housing affordability and its gotten worse under their watch. They chose instead to levy new and higher taxes that haveactually contributed to declinesin available housing, and broke their promise of a $400 renters annual rebate that would have provided relief to families, said Mike Bernier, BC Liberal Critic for Finance. Like theminister himself recently said, new taxes are not going to put a roof over the head of someone in need, whats needed is to actually build homes. I sincerely hope we are going to see a shift in NDP policy, but Im not getting my hopes up. Four years under the NDP has only produced higher rents, increased unaffordability, and record low levels of housing supply. We need real action to get affordable housing built in this province, but that has yet to be seen under this NDP government.

The NDP twice promised voters a $400 annual renters rebate, first in 2017 and again in 2020. As of today, people are still waiting for that relief.

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NDP admit their housing plan is a resounding failure: BC Liberals - Voiceonline.com

Thursdays meeting could endorse Mr Judah, who was the Liberal candidate for Bentleigh at the 2018 state election, overturn the result and order a fresh preselection, or wait for further information.

Last week upper house Liberal leader David Davis, representing Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, and Sarah Henderson, representing federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, spoke in favour of the status quo.

State party president Robert Clark recommended that the partys constitutional committee examine the vote.

If the committee members loyal to Mr Clark decide the electoral irregularities are too great, then the preselection would be overturned by a vote of 10-9.

Party state secretary Sam McQuestin is yet to give a recommendation to the committee.

Over the summer the party secretariat, who have been installing a new membership database, took to calling members in an attempt to ascertain their eligibility, which is determined by residence of an electorate, length of party membership and payment of membership dues.

In October the independent Electoral Boundaries Commission created the new seats of Ashwood, taking in Burwood and Box Hill, and Glen Waverley after scrapping the eastern seats Burwood (held by Labor), Ferntree Gully (Liberal), Forest Hill (Liberal) and Mount Waverley (Labor).

Analysts say the new seat is nominally held by Labor on a margin of 2.1 per cent. Burwood was held by Labor on 3.3 per cent.

The Liberal Party, which replaced Michael OBrien with former leader Matthew Guy in a September coup, must win back lost eastern suburbs seats, such as Ringwood, to have a chance of winning the state election in November. The Coalition has 28 fewer seats than Labor, and is behind in the polls.

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The Victorian branch has been mired in factional infighting for years. The controversial preselected candidate for Ringwood, Cynthia Watson, was overwhelmingly formally endorsed by the administration committee last week.

Moderate faction members had wanted to dump the former mayor of Boroondara, a Mormon, because of her conservative and religious views.

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Liberals in a lather over preselection irregularities for newly minted seat - The Age