Vaccination program process and potential for vaccine mandates among themes for session with Premier, Health Minister and Dr Henry today

Premier Horgan will
be on hand for today's 
vaccine update

Now back from wherever he was, a few days later than previously suggested for a public appearance, Premier John Horgan will be in attendance today for a media briefing that will update on the progress of the provincial government's vaccination program 

As well, some suggestions in the media suggest that plans for the potential for vaccination mandates in British Columbia could be part of the day's roll out of information.

The hot topic across the nation is one as to  who will be required to be fully vaccinated and what access could be denied if they don't take advantage of the vaccination programs across the nation. 

What British Columbia may have in mind could be outlined as part of the 1PM briefing that will also include Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

The Heads up for today's information session has been posted to the BC Government Facebook page, which will live stream the event at 1PM.

The focus for the session today is an update on the pace of vaccinations for COVID-19 in British Columbia, but with a ever increasing count of new COVID cases over the last month, the Premier may also outline how the current situation may impact on the Province's reopening program which was set to move on to Step 4 which is scheduled to be implemented on September 7th.

The province entered Phase Three on Canada Day, back in the days when the case counts were in decline, something that has reversed direction as the summer moved forward.

Step four had for the most part planned to send the province back to times of normalcy, though with the current situation evolving by the day, those plans may be up for revision.

With the Premier having been out of the public spotlight for much of the month of August, he probably should anticipate a range of questions outside of the COVID pandemic response. 

With the current state of wildfires and the provincial response and his absence from the conversation of the month one of a few areas which may bring a few questions from the media that participates in today's event.

The Premier's absence during the height of the wildfires of August was a theme that the Opposition Liberals chronicled and found some public support in their quest to hear from Mr. Horgan.

The Premier may also hear some questions related to a string of  letters from NDP MP's today that have spoken out about the police enforcement measures at the Fairy Creek forests dispute. 

The summer long protest has been one that has seen frequent clashes between the Police and protestors over the enforcement order. 

The topic one that currently finds the NDP government at odds with a number of those calling for protection of old growth forests, though while protesters have chose not to  heed the call of the First Nation government of the area to leave their territory.

The Federal MPs signing on to  express a range of concerns over how the Police are enforcing the court order in place at that protest location.

You can review the latest notes on COVID from our archive page here.

A wider overview of provincial themes is available through our Legislature Archive here.

More notes on Provincial themes can be reviewed from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.