Athletes across BC will have more opportunities to play and compete as viaSport moves into the third phase of its safe return to sport guidelines today. ViaSport is the BC government's lead delivery agency for amateur sports programs that were curtailed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The province says the BC Centre for Disease Control has reviewed viaSport's latest guidelines that cover contact activities, competitions, high-performance training environments and travel. The guidelines offer additional training opportunities, increased group sizes depending on the type of activity, and

Residents who were prepared to leave more than 36-hundred properties threatened by a wildfire southeast of Penticton are no longer under evacuation alert as of this morning.The nearly one-week alert for the properties has been lifted after cooler weather on Sunday helped keep strong winds that threatened to push the fire north toward the city at bay.Donny van Dyk, director of Penticton's emergency operation centre, says B-C Wildfire and regional partners determined the threat caused by the so-called Christie Mountain fire has subsided.An additional 300 or so properties north of Okanagan Falls

Children in British Columbia with extraordinary health needs that require complex care are to receive support at a single site scheduled to open in Vancouver.Health Minister Adrian Dix says the Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children will become a transition centre to help children with complex care needs. Sunny Hill is to relocate to the main campus of the B.C. Children's and Women's Hospitals at the end of August as the third and final phase of its redevelopment.Dix says the Vancouver transition centre will be the first facility in Canada providing a comprehensive range of supports at a singl

Visitors who are currently in Canada and have a valid job offer will be able to apply for an employer-specific work permit and, if approved, receive the permit without having to leave the country, thanks to a new public policy announced today by the Marco E.L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.This temporary policy change takes effect immediately and will benefit employers in Canada who continue to face difficulties finding the workers they need, as well as temporary residents who would like to contribute their labour and skills to Canada’s recovery from the COVID-

People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier says Erin O'Toole is masquerading as a Conservative and he will now show his real Red Tory face now that he is the party's leader.Bernier says there's nothing to distinguish O'Toole from the Justin Trudeau Liberals, and that his own People's Party of Canada is the only true conservative party in the country.O'Toole won the Conservative leadership early Monday with 57 per cent of the vote, defeating his main rival Peter MacKay, who won 43 per cent.Bernier says neither O'Toole nor MacKay represented the policies of Canadian conservatives, and that his People'

Two federal cabinet ministers say they expect more answers from Iranian officials about an air strike that downed a passenger plane earlier this year, killing everyone on board.Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne say Iran's preliminary report from the plane's data recorders provides only "limited and selected information" about the downing of flight PS752.The Ukraine International Airlines plane was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on Jan. 8.On the same night, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.

Erin O'Toole begins a new political life today as the leader of the federal Conservative party. O'Toole was declared the winner of the leadership race early this morning after technical problems delayed the vote count by hours.His victory over rival Peter MacKay will be a blow to some progressives, who had hoped by choosing the former longtime cabinet minister the party could finally move past some of the social conservative issues that weighed it down in the last election.The hours-long delay was a less-than-auspicious beginning for the new leader, who now is racing to get a team in place bef

Former Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar, who was appointed as Election Commissioner on Friday following the resignation of Ashok Lavasa, will take charge of the office on September 1. "The President is pleased to appoint Rajiv Kumar, IAS (retd) (JH:1984) as the Election Commissioner with effect from the date he assumes the office vice Ashok Lavasa, Election Commissioner who has resigned with effect from August 31," a notification of Law Ministry said. Kumar is a former IAS officer from Jharkhand cadre. Lavasa will take up the position of vice-president at the Asian Development Bank.

There are 124,372 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 61,495 confirmed (including 5,733 deaths, 54,472 resolved) Ontario: 41,179 confirmed (including 2,796 deaths, 37,397 resolved) Alberta: 12,748 confirmed (including 230 deaths, 11,374 resolved) British Columbia: 4,915 confirmed (including 202 deaths, 3,889 resolved) Saskatchewan: 1,595 confirmed (including 22 deaths, 1,439 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,077 confirmed (including 64 deaths, 1,008 resolved) Manitoba: 830 confirmed (including 12 deaths, 553 resolved) Newfoundland and Labrador: 268 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 265 resolved) New Bruns