BC Greens unveil their plan for young families

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Furstenau unveils plan for young families

BC Greens are promising free childcare for children under the age of four and up to $500 dollars a month in subsidies for stay at home parents who have children three years of age and younger. Leader Sonya Furstenau says the Green Plan will help women re-enter the workforce and allow families to strike a better work/life balance.

"Families with young children are under tremendous pressure in BC. The generation raising young children today juggles their long working hours and multiple demands on their time, as their household incomes stagnate and housing costs skyrocket. We need to move beyond a 20th century approach for working lives and we need to develop working supports that recognize the needs of working families today."—BC Green Party Leader Sonya Furstenau.

The party is also proposing more professional development and training for early childhood educators, along with setting professional wage levels. It says the plan will cost $223 million dollars over four years.

Wednesday Afternoon COVID-19 update

The latest COVID 19 numbers show another new infection in Island Health bringing our active case count to 12. There were 101 new cases, confirmed in the rest of the province over the past 24 hours. Two more people have died from the virus, bringing the total number of fatalities in BC to 244. Despite new cases in the triple digits, Dr. Bonnie Henry says BC is flattening the curve because people have reduced the number of contacts in their lives.

"We are opening schools, people are going back to work but we're having safe connections. We're somewhere around 45 per cent of the contacts we are having have the potential to transmit this virus. That is where we need to stay. This is what will keep us on this low and slow curve through the next few months."—Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Henry is urging families to limit their Thanksgiving gatherings to their own households.

Ladysmith Lightup and other events cancelled due to COVID-19

Another victim of the pandemic is the much loved Ladysmith Christmas Light Up. The event attracts 30,000 people on the first weekend of November. Related events including the Kinsmen Parade, street entertainment, fireworks, Light Up the Night arts show, and the Eagle’s spaghetti dinner are also cancelled. But residents still plan to decorate their town and are inviting people to enjoy the light show on their own time and in a socially distanced way.

Whale likely died from ship strike

A young humpback whale that was found offshore from Victoria ten days ago likely died after being struck by a ship. A necropsy was performed on the whale, nicknamed "Hawkeye" by scientists with Cascadia Research Collective. It concluded the whale was "so decomposed it was not possible to determine an exact cause of death. But, it had been in reasonable health prior to death and showed evidence of pre-mortem blunt force trauma to the head." Two other humpbacks have been struck and killed by Washington state ferries in the last two years, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association.