On 3 July, the maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI on the mainland and Newfoundland and Labrador which entered Confederation circa 1949 under Joey Smallwood) created an Atlantic Bubble where anyone from outside the participating provinces would have to self-isolate for 14 days after arrival. Due to the arrival of COVID variants, the explosion of cases in Alberta, and the number of tourists visiting BC for winter sports, British Columbia has been debating closing its borders to other provinces in the same way. There are questions whether this would survive a constituional challenge in court.
Alberta, with a similar population to BC, has 11,096 active cases as of 18 January whereas BC has 4,331 as of 20 January.
The Atlantic Bubble burst as one province after another dropped out.
I think that many outsiders don't understand BC's policies, which seem to be grounded in a philosophy of
anti-authoritarianism. Many people who get paid to share their opinions are authoritarians at heart who just want to be the ones giving advice in smoke-filled room or being humbly petitioned to grant access to their contacts. Health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has been clear about the philosophy underlining her recommendations.
The federal Conservatives are going to vote whether to expel MP Derek Sloan from the caucus for accepting a $131 donation from white nationalist (and CPC member)
Frederick Paul Fromm.
Edit: A majority voted to expel him under the Reform Act which some of the linked papers discussed in the Canadian Politics 2019 thread. Earlier in this year Sloan was in the news for asking whether British-educated, Hong Kong born, Han-ancestry chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam "works for Canada or for China." So the donation may be a pretext for MPs who have spent time in private with Sloan and have a good idea what he says when the microphones are turned off to get rid of him.
Edit: The premier of BC John Horgan
announced on 21 January that:
The review of our legal options made it clear we can't prevent people from travelling to British Columbia. We can impose restrictions on people travelling for non-essential purposes if they are causing harm to the health and safety of British Columbians. If we see transmission increase due to interprovincial travel, we will impose stronger restrictions on non-essential travellers."
Since the four maritime provinces already did this, Newfoundland passed a court challenge, section 1 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has a "subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society" clause, and
section 10 of the Emergency Program Act of British Columbia allows a minister during a state of emergency to "control or prohibit travel to or from any area of British Columbia;" that wording is confusing. People arriving in BC from other countries have to quarantine for two weeks.