Times-Chronicle Staff
British Columbia entered into its longest-ever state of emergency Wednesday after Premier John Horgan extended emergency orders for another two weeks with “no likely end in sight.”
“I’m excited about the future, but we also have to recognize that we don’t want to give up the ground that we have made collectively or as individuals,” Horgan said.
The 2017 wildfire season was the last time B.C. saw a 10-week state of emergency, and with Wednesday’s announcement the pandemic has become the longest state of emergency in B.C.’s history.
Horgan also announced Wednesday that MLAs are returning, either in-person or virtually, to the Legislative Assembly in Victoria on June 22.
“There is an expectation that members of the legislature will be here in Victoria, in this building conducting this democracy we are so fond of and is so foundational to who we are,” Horgan said.
The premier noted the collaboration from the three parties in the legislature during trying times.
“Partisanship has left the building, and it may well be returning in June, but I do want to say today that I’m grateful to the work of the BC Liberal party, the BC Green Party and my colleagues in the NDP for taking this challenge on not as partisans but as people, focusing on the needs of British Columbians,” Horgan said.
While he noted he wants the cooperation to continue, Horgan said he would “understand if a partisan rock or two” are thrown as legislature resumes.
