B.C. expected to announce state of emergency connected to floods | Globalnews.ca

The B.C. cabinet is meeting Wednesday morning to discuss calls for a provincial state of emergency connected to flooding across the province.

Premier John Horgan, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth and Transportation Minister Rob Fleming are expected to formally announce the state of emergency at a press conference at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

The press conference will be carried live on Global BC, BC1, the Global BC Facebook page and here on the Global BC website.

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“Today has been very much a day about assessment, in terms of the damage that is out there and the challenges that we are facing on the infrastructure front,” Farnworth said on Tuesday.

“I can tell you that as a provincewide state of emergency is very much on the table. Tomorrow we have a cabinet meeting and I will be going forward with my colleagues with a full briefing to cabinet. I fully expect decisions will be coming out of that cabinet meeting.”

Under the law, the state of emergency provides the government wide-sweeping powers over resources, travel and food chain protection.

The province has already had provincial states of emergency in place this year connected to COVID-19 and wildfires in the summer.

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The emergency act gives the province the ability to acquire or use any land or personal property considered necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency or disaster.

It also provides ability to authorize or require any person to render assistance of a type that the person is qualified to provide, meaning the government can break contracts to secure necessary workers.

With highways expected to re-open at minimal capacity, the emergency act gives the province the power to control or prohibit travel to or from any area of British Columbia.

In order to grapple with ongoing hoarding in some areas, the state of emergency would give the province the ability to restore essential facilities and allow the distribution of essential supplies.

The province will also be able to procure, fix prices for, or ration food, clothing, fuel, equipment, medical supplies or other essential supplies and the use of any property, services, resources, or equipment within any part of the province.

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If there are ongoing evacuations, the province will be able to cause the evacuation of persons and the removal of livestock, animals and personal property from any area of British Columbia that is or may be affected by an emergency or a disaster.

The province will then make arrangements for the adequate care and protection of those persons, livestock, animals and personal property. The order will authorize the entry into any building or on any land, without a warrant, by any person in the course of implementing an emergency plan.

The federal government has been providing resources needed by British Columbia to deal with the ongoing situation.

On Tuesday night, they formally requested federal assistance at Sumas prairie and to support the flooding situation in general.

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This includes Canadian Armed Forces ground and air support. Ottawa has agreed to provide the support.

“I want people to know, first of all, that the federal government has been engaging with the local authorities, with the province, I spoke with the premier, spoke with a number of mayors last night to talk about, how people are doing in this terrifically bad situation,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

“We’re also working with them on saving people, on sending resources like our forces to support our people in this situation. But also we’ll be there for the cleanup and the rebuilding after and after these extreme weather events. It’s really going be important Canadians continue to do what we do, which is being there for each other in this difficult situation.”