In question period yesterday afternoon, Premier John Horgan highlighted the importance of public health measures in economic recovery:

“In order to build confidence for consumers to go back into retail, into hospitality and other sectors that require that type of activity, we’re going to have to do a couple of things. We’re going to have to make sure that the workplace is safe. WorkSafeBC has been working with the public health officers to make sure that we put in place guidelines so that customers can be comfortable when they go into an establishment that they’re going to be safe and the workers in there are safe as well.”

Andrew Wilkinson dismissed the importance of safe workplaces:

“We hear the Premier talking consistently about public health measures, which actually don’t have anything to do with economic recovery.”

The Business Council of Canada recently launched a campaign to encourage businesses to follow the advice of health officials, saying that “public confidence is essential to a successful economic restart.”

A transcript of the exchange is available here.