The annual Canadian Pacific Holiday Train is the latest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 1999 CP has sent the decorated train across the country, from Montreal to Metro Vancouver, stopping in more than 100 cities and towns to collect cash and food donations for food banks in each community. The program has raised nearly 18-million dollars and collected more than two-million kilograms of food since it began but this year CP says the company will instead donate food directly to stops along its usual route, including 24 in BC. CP also plans to host a virtual concert to raise funds for fo

The head of B.C.'s money laundering inquiry has delayed the resumption of the hearings because of the B.C. election. Austin Cullen says the hearings will start again on Oct. 26, two days after the provincial election is to be held. Cullen says in a statement he delayed the hearings to preserve the independence of the commission and to protect the integrity of the electoral process. The inquiry was to resume on Oct. 13, and Cullen says he was told the inquiry would hear about issues that had been identified, but not the complete evidence and that could invite speculation. He says difficulty ar

Ski resorts in BC and across Canada are preparing for what could be a difficult season as they try to maintain profits while protecting the health of guests. All resorts will require skiers and boarders to wear masks on lifts and gondolas, but as many as eight could be allowed to ride in gondolas and few operators, including Whistler Blackcomb, are putting formal limits on the number of guests allowed on the hill. Instead many say they will allow passholders to reserve lift tickets while daily tickets will be available online only if there's enough capacity. A spokesman for Whistler says it's

Breonna Taylor's family and their lawyers are sharply criticizing Kentucky's attorney general for the failure to bring charges against police officers in her death. At a news conference Friday, they called for state Attorney General Daniel Cameron to release the transcripts of the grand jury proceeding.They are also vowing to continue their protests until the officers are charged. Taylor's mother said in a statement read by a relative to a gathering in Louisville that she did not expect justice from Cameron. A spokesperson for Cameron said prosecutors and grand jury members are bound by the f

BC New Democrat leader John Horgan says the previous Liberal government disregarded the housing crisis and left a legacy of ``runaway'' housing costs. He says the NDP government has built more housing in three years than the Liberals did in 16. Horgan says the NDP's speculation and vacancy tax saw 11 thousand empty condos become occupied, bringing in 115-million dollars in new revenue.He says that money comes from people who live somewhere else and who looked at Vancouver as a place to invest rather than a place to put down roots.Horgan, who's campaigning in Coquitlam today, says a re-elected

New Democrat Leader John Horgan was in Coquitlam this morning for a housing announcement where he pledged to build many more units of affordable housing and prevent the BC Liberals from abolishing the housing speculation tax. But a statement from the Liberals says the NDP government has only completed a fraction of the homes it planned to build and just five per cent of those are affordable rental housing. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson focused on the homelessness crisis during a stop in Vancouver's Yaletown neighbourhood this morning. Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau doesn't have any publ

The federal government ran a deficit of $148.6 billion during the first four months of its 2020-2021 fiscal year, the result of unprecedented spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.The result compared with a deficit of $1.6 billion for the same period in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. In its monthly fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says program expenses for the four-month period of April to July hit $215.7 billion, up $111.1 billion, or 106.2 per cent, from the same period a year earlier. Major transfers to persons which consists this fiscal year of seniors benefits, employment insur

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is very disappointed that Sikh RCMP officers have been reassigned during the pandemic because their religiously mandated facial hair makes it difficult to properly wear a face covering. The World Sikh Organization of Canada says officers have been placed on desk duty for almost six months, as the RCMP found the N100 mask does not seal with facial hair. The organization says no attempt has been made to accommodate Sikh officers with other protective coverings that would work with facial hair. Trudeau says health and safety regulations are extremely importan

The federal Conservatives say they want the House of Commons to sit this weekend to debate new COVID-19 aid legislation. Opposition House leader Gerard Deltell says the provisions in the bill demand detailed and urgent scrutiny. Past COVID-19 legislation has passed fairly swiftly with all-party consent but at the time, Parliament was not sitting as normal. Now it is, and Deltell is suggesting that putting the new bill through the ordinary legislative paces will take too long. Among other things, Bill C-2 would create a new benefits regime to support those who have lost jobs due to the COVID