Western Canada: B.C. hangs on to vaccine passports as COVID-19 capacities lift

Good morning. Wendy Cox in Vancouver this morning.

By Thursday, restaurants in British Columbia will be filled once again, movie theatres can pack in as many viewers as there are seats available and anyone dreaming of a big wedding can start churning out the invites. The province announced Tuesday that capacity limits, imposed as a measure to limit the spread of COVID-19, will be removed at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.

But anyone attending the movie theatre or looking to dine in a restaurant will still have to show their proof of vaccination. And they will have to continue doing so at least until the middle of next month. A review of B.C.’s vaccine passport is planned for March 15, followed by another on April 12.

This means the province will be the only one west of the Maritimes to continue to limit some activities to those who are vaccinated. As of this week, neither Saskatchewan nor Alberta are using vaccine passports. Ontario and Manitoba have announced they will drop theirs March 1, and Quebec on Tuesday announced it would end its vaccine passport system by March 14. Quebec’s decision was a particular surprise: Just weeks ago, it floated the idea of a tax for the unvaccinated, but Health Minister Christian Dubé now says it’s time to “learn to live with the virus.”

B.C. Premier John Horgan said British Columbians have been “comfortable to be outliers.” He said vaccine card uptake in the province was “swift and it was overwhelming.”

“We want to ensure that the sacrifices that people have made over the past two years are not in vain. Therefore, a measured approach is how we’ve addressed all of these issues going back to 2020 and we’ll continue to do that,” Mr. Horgan said.

Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry noted that B.C. has chosen the route of hanging on to the vaccine passport while getting rid of capacity limits for small and large venues. That differs from Alberta, where capacity limits are still in place for larger spaces. As well, B.C. will keep its requirement for people to wear masks in public spaces. In Saskatchewan, rules requiring masking will be gone by the end of the month.

Mr. Horgan noted these measures were designed to be temporary to address the Omicron wave, and ending those measures has nothing to do with “any protest, any horn honking, any encampments.”

Other polices such as the visitation restrictions in long-term-care facilities, and guidelines for K-12 students and the faith community will remain in place before Dr. Henry reviews them.

The difference in approaches has meant that B.C. businesses with a large customer base of Albertans are bracing for challenges. B.C. restaurants and ski resorts say they expect most customers to be respectful of the rules, but are preparing for potential conflict.

Michael J. Ballingall, senior vice-president at Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna, B.C., said that while the majority of visitors follow the rules, the occasional argument about masking measures or proof of vaccination does occur.

“Some of the people that are here from Alberta, they come here to get away from it all, and they think because they’re outside, everything’s relaxed.”

In Quebec, the vaccine passport will no longer be required for big-box stores or at the provincial liquor and cannabis retailers starting on Feb. 16, Mr. Dubé announced on Tuesday. Places of worship will no longer be required to check for vaccination status as of Feb. 21. The passport will not be required anywhere starting on March 14.

Similar to Mr. Horgan’s remarks, Mr. Dubé said the gradual withdrawal of the vaccination passport is not a response to protests and blockades against public-health measures that have flared up across the country in recent weeks. Rather, he noted, it is a sign that the devastating current pandemic wave is becoming less severe.

“We should be happy that we’re able to withdraw the passport, because it’s going well,” said the Health Minister. “So let’s take the joy of the news that we’re getting today. The conditions are improving.”

The government of Premier François Legault was the first in Canada to introduce a vaccine passport last year and has since expanded its scope to make it the country’s strictest.

The Premier has spoken often in recent weeks about the importance of ending a “divisive” period of pandemic politics and bringing Quebeckers together by easing public-health measures. Virtually all restrictions will be lifted in the province as of mid-March, except for mask mandates.

There is a possibility that some measures, including the vaccine passport, will be reinstated in the future, if cases spike again, said Mr. Dubé.

“We might need it again,” he said of the government-issued QR codes. “Keep it on your phone.”

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.