Plans to fight the second wave of COVID-19 and to mount a strong economic recovery focus of B.C.'s throne speech

The newly re-elected NDP government says it will strive to ensure that people work together to fight the second wave of COVID-19 and to mount a strong economic recovery.

In a throne speech read by Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin, the government says vaccines herald better days ahead but the virus still poses urgent challenges in the short term.

It says a tax-free pandemic recovery payment of one-thousand dollars to eligible families and 500-dollars to individuals will help people during a hard time, while benefiting the local economy.

The plan was to deliver the benefit in time for Christmas but the government says in a news release that the benefits will not come until year's end.