VERNON (NEWS 1130) – A viral video of B.C.’s premier dining at a Vernon restaurant is highlighting the confusion that exists in the Interior Health region when it comes to COVID-19 restrictions.
The video, taken on Thursday, shows a group of people confront Premier John Horgan, who is at a table with seven other people. It’s prompted some online to accuse him of breaking the rule that says there can only be six seated at a table.
But that’s not the case.
While regional restrictions in the Central Okanagan were recently expanded to the rest of the Interior, rules impacting restaurants, pubs, and bars, were not. That means restaurants like the one Horgan ate at can seat more than six at a table.
Jeff Guinard, Executive Director of BC’s Alliance of Beverage Licensees, says the expansion of some rules but not others has been confusing.
“I think government and regional health authorities did not do a good enough job making that clear,” he told NEWS 1130.
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“From their perspective, they only talk about the rules they extended. They didn’t bother to mention that we’re not extending the restrictions on the hospitality industry about group sizes and operating hours and from one sense, why would they, they’re not extending them, right? But it would have been very helpful at the beginning if they had just said that quite clearly.”
He adds as soon as the expanded restrictions were announced, he was getting calls and emails from restaurants and bars.
“We literally had inspectors going into some of our establishments and saying they had to shut down at 10 o’clock, to which we said, ‘No, we don’t,'” he added.
The restaurant Horgan was filmed dining at, Sir Winston’s Pub and Liquor Store, has fallen victim to the confusion with some online giving the establishment poor reviews, accusing them of bending the rules for the premier.
Owner, Jovan Badhan, tells NEWS 1130 that’s not the case and that Horgan was seated with a group of seven because the rules allow it.
“We have been serving our customers for 20 something years and never once have we ever given anyone preferential treatment based on their background, their career, their race, whatever it may be,” he said.
While the people who confronted Horgan can be heard complaining that they were told they could only have six at their table, Badhan says his restaurant has been seating groups of larger than six ever since the rules loosened.
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He also believes there’s been confusion over the rules.
“I really do think there’s miscommunication and a misunderstanding of what rules are placed upon us on different regions,” he said.
“The message gets quite convoluted when it’s changing every four weeks and when different regions have different restrictions placed upon them and I think that’s what happened in this case. People don’t understand where we are located, what restrictions are placed on us versus Vancouver, Victoria, even Kelowna.”
Badhan believes some of the anger and frustration stems from opposition to the province’s vaccine passport, set to come into effect next month.
“As a business we’ve seen a lot of hardship over the last year and a half and I don’t think we should be painted in a negative light just because a high-figure politican visited our establishment,” he added.
When reached for comment on the video and the reaction, Premier John Horgan’s office said the people who took the video were mistaken and that the premier didn’t break any rules.
NEWS 1130 has reached out to the person who filmed the video.
Video of premier dining in Vernon causes anger, highlights confusion with COVID rules - News 1130
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