Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is "as surprised as" British Columbia Premier David Eby after a firm received Health Canada licence amendments to produce and sell cocaine. Trudeau says the federal government is talking to Adastra Labs of Langley, B.C., about changing the language of its statements, after the company said it is looking for ways to incorporate cocaine into its business plan. This comes as a second B.C. company says it is now licensed to produce, sell and distribute cocaine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy, although Health Canada says they cannot sell products to the general

The federal government has stopped shipping rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces as millions are set to expire within the year, and experts say the once-essential tool has lost its importance in the pandemic. There are 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, Health Canada said in an email. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years. “Canada has robust inventories and is well prepared for COVID response,” Anne Génier, with Health Canada, said in an email. Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says February's home sales were up 76.9 per cent from January, but down 47.2 per cent from the year before. The board says sales for the month totaled 1,808, roughly 33 per cent below the 10-year February sales average. The board says the numbers reflect a continued reluctance from prospective home sellers to list their properties, pushing sales well below historical norms. However, the number of homes for sale in the region have continued inching upwards, moving up by 16.7 per cent from February 2022 and 5.2 per cent from January. Ther

RCMP say a six-year-old boy is in hospital after being shot by a four-year-old in Manitoba. Mounties say the children were at a home on Peguis First Nation, north of Winnipeg, and were able to get access to a gun on Monday night. Police say the younger boy fired the weapon and struck the older child. The six-year-old was taken to hospital with serious injuries but is expected to survive. RCMP seized five firearms, a cross bow and ammunition from the house. They say a man was arrested and will be facing a charge of unlawfully storing a firearm.

RCMP confirm at least one person has been killed in an avalanche in southeastern British Columbia, about 150 kilometres southwest of Banff, Alta.Cpl. James Grandy says several other people among a group of heli-skiers were hurt when the avalanche hit near the B.C. community of Invermere.A statement from the B.C. Emergency Health Service says it was informed about the avalanche just before noon on Wednesday.The service sent four ambulances to Invermere to meet incoming helicopters and four patients were taken to hospital, but their conditions were not released.Grandy says he can't confirm how m

The provincial government is providing $150 million to upgrade B.C's 911 emergency communications system. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, says the money will be used to help local governments shift to Next Generation 911. $90 million will fund technological upgrades at E-Comm, which handles almost all of B.C's 911 calls and the rest of the money will go to the Union of B.C. Municipalities to cover staffing, training and quality assurance costs. Next Generation 911 is a countrywide emergency communications network that accepts all types of data, including real t

Alberta's top court has increased the sentence of a former club promoter convicted of sexually assaulting several women to 11 years. Matthew McKnight was sentenced to eight years after he was convicted in 2020 of assaulting five women in Edmonton between 2010 and 2016. The Crown asked last month that the Court of Appeal give McKnight a sentence of 15 years, arguing the assaults were premeditated. The Crown had originally asked at trial that McKnight serve 22 1/2 years. Court heard that McKnight offered alcohol to his victims, who were between the ages of 18 and 22, then assaulted them at his d

Property taxes in Vancouver will jump by nearly 11 per cent this year after city councillors approved a $1.97 billion operating budget for 2023.Council voted Tuesday to pass the budget which contains a property tax increase of 10.7 per cent, one per cent higher than the hike proposed last month and more than double the five per cent amount put forward by staff last November. A statement from the city says that it means average increases of $549 for business properties, $326 for single-family homes and $125 for condominiums, although the assessed value of each property will determine the specif

B.C. Finance Minister Katrine Conroy while presenting the budget today said that her budget was addressing affordability issues and now was the time to bring in more relief for renters.The highlights of the 2023 British Columbia budget presented on Tuesday include:$6.4 billion in new health spending, including $2.6 billion for health services such as cancer care, $1.1 billion to attract and retain family doctors, and more than $1 billion for mental health and addictions services. There’s also $875 million in 2023-2024 for COVID-19 measures.$4.2 billion in new housing funding, including $1.7