Chapter 1: Commercial rent assistance, as well as the other programs to support small businesses in response to COVID-19.
Small business owners are worried because the rental assistance and eviction protections are set to expire at the end of the month with no assurance customers will come back anytime soon.
Guest: Mary Ng, Federal Minister of Small Business.
Chapter 2: Wild variations in COVID-19 transmission across Canada.
Why are Ontario and Quebec still reporting hundreds of new cases of COVID-19 every day? There were 14 new cases announced in BC yesterday, Ontario had over 200, and Quebec had 144. Testing rates in both provinces are much higher than here in BC on a per capita basis, so why are we seeing such a big difference in the number of new cases across the country?
Guest: Colin Furness Associate Professor at U of T’s Faculty of Information and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Chapter 3: Seattle protest
Protesters in Seattle have occupied several blocks outside the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct since Monday. Now at the end of the week, the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone”, otherwise known as CHAZ, remains.
President Trump called those occupying the area around the precinct “domestic terrorists” and told the people of Seattle “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will.”
Guest: Hanna Scott, reporter with KIRO-TV in Seattle.
Chapter 4: BC records highest number of fatal overdoses in a single month
It’s the other ongoing health crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic: opioids. Yesterday afternoon BC reported that there were 170 illicit drug deaths in the month of May, the highest number since they began tracking them, and three more than the total number of deaths from COVID-19 to date.
Guest: Garth Mullins, host of the Crackdown podcast about drugs and drug policy.
Guest: Donald MacPherson, Executive Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
Chapter 5: Liberals fail to win support for latest CERB bill on fraud fines
The honeymoon period between the federal government and opposition leaders might be over after they chose not to support legislation yesterday in the House of Commons. We’ve seen unanimous consent for some of the big pieces that brought rent and wage subsidies online quickly, but stonewalling yesterday could signal a shift in that unified front.
Parliament has been operating under special pandemic rules since mid-March, and calls for them to get back to business as normal have been getting louder.
Guest: David Akin, Global News chief political correspondent.
Chapter 6: BC restaurants are no longer limited to 50% capacity for dine-in patron
Welcome news for the restaurant industry in BC yesterday as the province unveiled less restrictive guidelines for reopening.
We’re joined by Mark von Schellwitz with Restaurants Canada to talk about what they’re hearing from restaurant owners, and what these new regulations look like.
Restaurant Canada Survey shows over half of the restaurants that reopened are operating at a loss right now.
Guest: Mark von Schellwitz, Vice President in Western Canada for Restaurants Canada.