COVID-19 Update: October 14, 2021

Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues,

Here’s what you’ll find inside today’s update:

  • Update from ABLE BC: Halloween, Compliance and Enforcement

  • Announcing 2021 BC Liquor Conference Seminars

  • Complete our Annual LRS Benchmark Survey

  • Help keep the federal wage and rent subsidies going

  • Licensee Retail Store Moratorium Extended until July 2032

  • ABLE BC BC Vaccine Card FAQ and Advocacy Update: Recording Available

  • COVID-19 Vaccination Mandatory for Travellers and Federal Workforce

  • Reminder: public health orders currently in place

  • Reminder: new TESA applications accepted until October 31

  • New rules protecting young workers in effect October 15

  • Destination BC Accepting Applications for Power Up! Program

  • COVID-19 Vaccination Signage Available

  • Webinar on October 20: Enabling Tourism Innovation

  • Info Session on Propel: A new wage subsidy

Find all past COVID-19 updates here.

Update from ABLE BC: Halloween, Compliance and Enforcement
Halloween

ABLE BC has not heard of any new public health restrictions for Halloween. Please be assured that we are working with government to find out if there will be any changes, and will update industry as soon as possible if there is.

Compliance and Enforcement

Since the introduction of the BC Vaccine Card program on September 13, many of you have written or called with questions about enforcement and to express frustration about the lack of government support for your businesses and workers – who are on the front lines of enforcing this mandatory requirement. Please know we have shared these concerns with government directly.

Government has created a multi-agency enforcement task force and they meet regularly to discuss enforcement issues and coordinate efforts. ABLE BC’s Executive Director Jeff Guignard meets with them weekly.

Between September 13 and October 8 there were:

  • 885 complaints

  • 648 investigated

  • 401 resolved

  • 48 warning letters

  • 29 coordinated enforcement activities related to BC Vaccine Cards, which included Health Authorities, Police, Bylaw, Compliance and Enforcement

  • 13 Violation Tickets issues

  • 3 closure orders issued

  • 2 liquor licenses suspended

  • 1 business license suspended

Thank you to everyone who has reported non-compliant businesses. We have forwarded these businesses to the enforcement task force. Every business we have reported is being inspected and enforcement actions are underway.

If you have concerns about an operator in your community not following vaccine card rules, you may reach out confidentially to Executive Director Jeff Guignard directly at jeff@ablebc.ca. 

Announcing 2021 BC Liquor Conference Seminars

The BC Liquor Conference is back for a sixth year and we’re going hybrid!

Hosted by ABLE BC, this year’s conference will take place online and in-person on Monday, October 25, 2021. A portion of the tickets are available to attend in person at Soundhouse Studios in Vancouver. The remaining are available for virtual attendance.

Note: ABLE BC will be asking for proof of vaccination from all in-person guests.

No matter where you are in the province, tune in and get the liquor industry data, trends, and policy updates you can’t get anywhere else.

Register now for the 2021 BC Liquor Conference.

2021 BC Liquor Conference Seminars

This year’s conference schedule includes:

  • Industry Welcome and Update by ABLE BC’s Executive Director Jeff Guignard

  • LCRB Update

  • LDB Update

  • Retail Trends and Consumer Insights with Arterra, Labatt, and Spirits Canada

  • Preventing Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace with WorkSafeBC

  • How to win in the bar and restaurant business with David Hopkins, The 15 Group

  • Liquor Liability with Lorne Folick, Dolden Wallace Folick

  • Panel discussion with ABLE BC, BCHA, and TIABC on what’s next for BC’s tourism and hospitality industries

Reserve your spot now and join us in October.

Complete our Annual LRS Benchmark Survey

Since 2018, ABLE BC in partnership with Paul Rickett, VARKeting! has conducted an annual LRS Benchmark Survey.

As BC’s private liquor industry association, ABLE BC works to collect data for our membership and create an economic snapshot of our industry. We survey our private liquor store members on an annual basis to help develop KPIs or benchmarks for your business.

We are conducting our third annual LRS Benchmark Survey and we need your feedback.

To ensure we can offer you valuable insights, we kindly ask that if you own and/or operate an LRS, you complete the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FX9RPYM

Deadline to complete survey: October 27, 2021.

Results will be shared with members and in the Quarterly Pour. Preliminary results will be presented at the BC Liquor Conference on October 25, 2021. Individual results and any business information shared will be kept confidential. Results will be presented as aggregate data.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

Help keep the federal wage and rent subsidies going

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy have kept the country’s hardest hit businesses alive for the first year of COVID-19.

Businesses need to know that government will continue to provide wage and fixed cost support until necessary public health restrictions are lifted and normal travel and events can resume. An extension of CEWS and CERS at a subsidy rate of 20% will not be enough.

The Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses is asking that a new, tailored wage and fixed cost support program be established at the earliest opportunity for Canada’s hardest hit businesses to ensure their survival into the fall and winter.

TAKE ACTION: send a letter to your Member of Parliament

Please make your voice heard by sending a letter to your Member of Parliament using a pre-populated letter: send it here.

Licensee Retail Store Moratorium Extended until July 2032

We are excited and proud to share some long-awaited good news: on October 4, Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, announced the moratorium on new Licensee Retail Stores will be extended until 2032. The moratorium was originally set to expire on July 1, 2022.

Read the government news release.

Existing LRS licenses may still be transferred with approval of the LCRB. Excluded from the license freeze are existing Independent Wine Stores licensees that may choose to convert their license type to a LRS by March 31, 2025, to sell beer, cider, and distilled products in their current locations.

The government-imposed moratorium on issuing new LRS licenses has been a vital investment protection for British Columbia’s liquor retailers – and our most important LRS policy issue, next to maintaining the 1 km distance rule.

Ending the moratorium on July 1, 2022 could have led to a flood of new liquor retail stores entering the market – unnecessarily increasing competition, undermining your profitability, and putting our industry’s long-term prosperity at risk. 

For the past several years, ABLE BC’s Executive Director Jeff Guignard and our Board of Directors have been actively advocating that government extend the LRS moratorium by an additional 10 years. Today’s announcement comes as a direct result of our ongoing advocacy work.

As a sign of our productive partnership with government on these and other liquor policy issues, ABLE BC’s Executive Director Jeff Guignard participated directly in today’s announcement. We are immensely grateful that government has heard us, and our members welcome the long-term certainty this provides for BC’s liquor retailers.

Please join us in thanking Minister Farnworth for his personal involvement in extending the moratorium by writing to him at PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca.

While we work to support the survival of our hospitality members amid the worst financial crisis in our lifetime, ABLE BC has continued to successfully advocate for private liquor retailers. We ensured LRSs were declared an essential service so they would not be closed during the pandemic, and secured a new potential new revenue stream by ensuring LRSs may sell products to holders of Special Event Permits. We know that extending the LRS moratorium provides long-term stability for liquor retailers, particularly during this chaotic time.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

ABLE BC BC Vaccine Card FAQ and Advocacy Update: Recording Available

On October 7, ABLE BC hosted a BC Vaccine Card FAQ and Advocacy Update sponsored by Vita Pro 21.

Download the presentation slides and watch the recording.

Resources and links referenced during the webinar: 

  • Register for ABLE BC’s BC Liquor Conference on Monday, October 25, 2021. Tickets are available in-person in Vancouver and online.

  • Join ABLE BC as a member today. Sign-up online or contact Danielle Leroux (Director of Membership and Communications) at danielle@ablebc.ca for more information. Learn more about our advocacy work during the pandemic here.

  • Current public health orders can be found here.

  • go2HR BSAFE Program: free 90-minute online course for staff in BC’s tourism and hospitality industry. Help rebuild consumer confidence and provide employees with a strong foundation in COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

  • Give your feedback to the BC government on paid sick leave here.

  • Get advice on a COVID-19 workplace vaccination policy here and here. We will be hosting a webinar in the near future on this topic.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

COVID-19 Vaccination Mandatory for Travellers and Federal Workforce

On October 6, the federal government announced that anyone departing from Canadian airports, or taking VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer trains, will need to be fully vaccinated to travel, as of October 30. 

Travellers who are in the process of being vaccinated can temporarily show a valid COVID-19 molecular test within 72 hours of travel, but that transition period will end November 30. 

Employees in the federally regulated air, rail and marine transportation sectors will also need to be fully vaccinated.

Learn more.

Reminder: public health orders currently in place

As a reminder, the following province-wide public orders are currently in place:

The following regional public orders are also in place:

For more information about current restrictions, you can also visit these government websites:

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

Reminder: new TESA applications accepted until October 31

The LCRB is accepting applications for new Temporary Expanded Service Area authorizations until October 31, 2022. For more information on applying for a TESA, please click here.

Approved TESA authorizations expire on June 1, 2022. To operate your TESA permanently past the June 1, 2022 expiry date, apply as soon as possible for a new outdoor patio or structural change (indoor). Please see Policy Directive 21-09 for more information.

New rules protecting young workers in effect October 15

Employers are reminded that changes to employment standards that better protect young people will be in force on October 15, 2021. 

The changes raise the general working age in British Columbia from 12 to 16 and define the types of jobs that are appropriate for those under 16.
Youth aged 14 and 15 are able to do many “appropriate” jobs defined as “light work” with permission from a parent or guardian. In some cases, children aged 14 and 15 may be permitted to do work outside the definition of light work with a permit from the Ministry of Labour’s Employment Standards Branch. 

The new rules do not prevent children from babysitting or delivering newspapers part time, or students from working in a work-study or work experience class, which are among the jobs excluded from the new rules.

Children aged 12 and older can continue to be employed in a business or on a farm owned by an immediate family member, as long as the work meets the safety criteria set out in the regulation.

Occupations that are now prescribed as light work appropriate for youth 14 and 15 include:

  • cashier

  • computer programmer

  • golf caddy

  • lifeguard or lifeguard assistant

  • messenger or courier

  • peer counsellor

  • performing artist

  • recreation or community program attendant

  • referee or umpire

  • salesperson, other than door-to-door

  • server of food or drink, other than alcohol

  • sports or recreational coach or instructor

  • summer or day camp leader

  • tutor or instructor

  • visual artist or graphic designer

  • writer, editor or similar

Occupations or situations that are now generally considered as unsafe for youth under 16 include:

  • repairing, maintaining or operating heavy machinery

  • places where a minor is not permitted to enter

  • sites of construction, heavy manufacturing, heavy industrial work

  • sites designed to retain an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere

  • walk-in freezers or coolers, other than to place or retrieve an item

  • handling substances that minors cannot legally purchase, use or distribute

  • lifting, carrying or moving heavy items or animals

  • using, handling or applying hazardous substances like pesticides

These changes to the Employment Standards Act were initiated through legislation in the spring of 2019. Consultations were held with over 1,700 youth, parents and employers from multiple sectors before prior to finalizing the changes this year.

These new rules bring British Columbia in line with international standards for children’s employment. Prior to these changes, BC was the only province in Canada whose general minimum working age was as young as 12.

Destination BC Accepting Applications for Power Up! Program

Destination BC is still accepting applications for Power Up!, an application-based digital mentoring program that provides 75 small- and medium-sized tourism businesses, sole proprietors and non-profits with free access to digital audit and technical services designed to improve digital marketing activities and use of digital technology. 

Service costs are covered up to a maximum of $5,000 per participant. There are only a few spots left, so apply quickly to avoid missing this opportunity.

Learn more and apply.

COVID-19 Vaccination Signage Available

New signage is available in ABLE BC’s online store, reminding your regular customers that you have to check for proof of vaccination every time they enter your establishment.

Download a free PDF sign or purchase a laminated sign.

Visit ABLE BC’s online store for all COVID-19 signage.

Webinar on October 20: Enabling Tourism Innovation

Join TIABC for a free webinar on Wednesday, October 20 at 11:00 am: Enabling Tourism Innovation. Register here.

Justin Lafontaine and Alex Berlyand of the Tourism Innovation Lab will share experiences and examples on inspiring, supporting and enabling tourism innovation through industry partnerships and programs.

Info Session on Propel: A new wage subsidy

Need help bringing on new staff? Hiring students is a great way to build your team for short-term needs and to build a talent pipeline for the long term! And now you can access a wage subsidy of up to $7,500 through Propel, a brand new Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)!

Propel is offered through Tourism HR Canada, a Canadian organization with a mandate aimed at building a world-leading tourism workforce. Propel is specifically designed to support the tourism and hospitality sector.

Learn more about how your organization can take advantage of this federally funded wage subsidy program and how to bring on students from hospitality and tourism management, culinary arts, and other programs from across the province at this info session on Monday, November 15th at 2:00pm (Pacific).

Brought to you by the Talent MATCH Program, a collaboration between go2HR, the BC Museums Association, the BC Alliance for Arts + Culture, and the Association for Co-operative Education & Work Integrated Learning, this info session will feature Rachel George and Joe Baker from Propel, who will explain how the program works and how to apply.
This info session is free, but you must register for it here.

Want more information on hiring students? Visit the Talent MATCH webpage for more details or contact Project Manager Debby Reis at TalentMatch@acewilbc.ca.

Ann Brydle