COVID-19 Update: October 7, 2021

Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues,

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

  • Announcing 2021 BC Liquor Conference Seminars

  • Licensee Retail Store Moratorium Extended until July 2032

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

  • Webinar on October 20: Enabling Tourism Innovation

  • Reminder: public health orders currently in place

  • Good news! Food delivery fee cap extended

  • Comment on BC’s Permanent Paid Sick Leave

  • COVID-19 Vaccination Signage Available

  • City of Vancouver Public Hearing: Patios for Liquor Manufacturers

  • Info Session on Propel: A new wage subsidy

Find all past COVID-19 updates here.

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.

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

Today, 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.

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.

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.

Good news! Food delivery fee cap extended

On September 26, government announced they will be extending the food delivery fee cap, which limits the total fees food delivery companies can charge.

The food delivery service fee cap is being extended under the COVID-19 Related Measures Act and will immediately follow the expiry of the current temporary order put in place on December 22, 2020, under the Emergency Program Act. The current order was set to expire on September 28, 2021.

The order will continue to cap fees charged to restaurants from food delivery companies to 15%. An additional cap of 5% will also be extended for other related fees associated with use of the service, such as online ordering and processing fees. This will ensure companies cannot shift their delivery costs to other fees.

The revised order is set to expire on December 31, 2021, at which point it will be reviewed, taking into account the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For months, ABLE BC has been working alongside industry partners, including the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association and Restaurants Canada to help tackle the significant impact delivery fees have on your bottom line. We are grateful to our government partners for listening to the needs of our industry, and extending this fee cap.

Report delivery companies that are not in compliance to the LCRB.

For more information, please read the government news release. If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact ABLE BC: info@ablebc.ca.

Comment on BC’s Permanent Paid Sick Leave

British Columbians are invited to have their say on three proposed options for permanent paid sick leave shaped by their responses to the first phase of consultation.

The options paper has been posted on government’s engagement site and is available for comment until October 25. Three options have been developed that cover the minimum number of days: three, five and 10 days of paid sick leave. To leave a comment on the engagement site, visit: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/paidsickleave/

ABLE BC will be submitting our recommendations, but we encourage you to do the same.

In May 2021, amendments to the Employment Standards Act laid the groundwork for establishing minimum standards for permanent paid sick leave. Following the public engagement process, paid sick leave will be established through regulation and come into effect on January 1, 2022.

Update from ABLE BC: ABLE BC’s Executive Director Jeff Guignard met with Hon. Harry Bains, Minister of Labour last week about paid sick leave. He shared our members’ immense concerns that paid sick leave will add tens of millions of dollars to payroll costs at a moment when most of the industry is breaking even, or still losing money. We pushed him to delay any new costs to businesses, at least until our industry has recovered from the devastating financial impacts of this crisis.

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.

City of Vancouver Public Hearing: Patios for Liquor Manufacturers

The City of Vancouver is holding a public hearing on October 12, 2021 at 6:00 pm about the Zoning & Development By-law amendments to allow patios for liquor manufacturers.

The public hearing referral report can be found here.

Related Links:

These Public Hearings are to be convened by electronic means, with in-person attendance also available. You may participate in the Public Hearing either by speaking by phone or in person, or submitting comments that will be distributed to the Mayor and Councillors. 

All spoken and written comments will be publicly accessible on the City of Vancouver’s website with your full name attached. 

Due to COVID-19, a Public Health Order currently limits the number of members of the public that can attend the City’s Public Hearings in person.

Members of the public are strongly encouraged to attend remotely. Members of the public can listen and watch the proceedings via the City’s website or follow Twitter @VanCityClerk. If attending in person, members of the public must comply with the Public Health Order.

Send your comments to City Council: comment online or via mail to City of Vancouver, City Clerk’s Office, 453 West 12th Avenue, Third Floor, Vancouver, BC, V5Y 1V4.

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