A group of Quebec fitness centre owners says its members are no longer planning to open Thursday in defiance of the government's lockdown orders. The owners released a statement today calling on their clients to instead join them in a series of protests outside their gyms and fitness studios on Thursday. On Monday, a coalition of more than 250 gym owners threatened to open their doors this week, prompting a warning from Premier Francois Legault that they and their clients would be fined. This week Legault extended lockdown orders across regions under the government's highest pandemic-alert le

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says it will take quite some time for the economy to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.In its latest economic outlook, the bank says a rapid expansion as the Canadian and global economies re-opened has given way to slower growth.It says Canada's economy won't fully recover what was lost to COVID-19 until 2022 and Macklem says the the path will be uneven over time and across sectors.The economy is forecast to contract by 5.7 per cent this year but grow by 4.2 per cent next year and 3.7 per cent in 2022.The outlook was issued as the bank kept its over

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is calling on the government to apologize for legislation that remains controversial 50 years after its passage during the October Crisis in Quebec. In October 1970, the Liberal government under then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau decided to suspend civil liberties by invoking the War Measures Act in response to the kidnapping of a Quebec cabinet minister and a British diplomat by members of the militant FLQ separatist group.The legislation, passed at the request of the Quebec premier and Montreal's mayor, saw soldiers patrolling the streets as auth

The province reported 217 new COVID-19 cases today for a total of 13,588, but no new deaths. With Halloween around the corner, officials in the Fraser Health region are urging people not to hold private parties this weekend to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Doctor Elizabeth Brodkin, chief medical health officer for the region, says it's fine to take children trick-or-treating in a safe way but people shouldn't be gathering in homes. Fraser Health has reported 7,674 cases since the start of the pandemic with most of the infections in people aged 20 to 29.

Roughly 80 million dollars will be spread among three BC cities as the federal government unveils its one-billion dollar Rapid Housing Initiative. The program was announced this morning and includes 500 million dollars shared among 15 Canadian cities to help buy properties to build or renovate for low-income housing. Vancouver receives 51.5 million, Surrey is in line for 16 million dollars and Victoria gets 13 million, while Canada's largest city, Toronto, receives 203 million. Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart welcomes his city's share of the cash, saying it shows the federal government suppor

RCMP say an extensive search continues today for a father and son reported missing after going mushroom picking last Thursday. Mounties in Pemberton say the local tribal police service called early Friday to request help searching for the pair identified by the Lil'wat Nation as 48 year old Peter Oleski and his 21year old son River Leo. Police say 55 people from at least nine search and rescue teams around BC have joined the efforts, along with dogs and helicopters. They're asking anyone on the mountain ridges northeast of Pemberton, in the area of the McKenzie forest service road and Upper M

US President Donald Trump kicked off a day of campaigning in Michigan with a rain-soaked rally in Lansing. Most polls show Trump trailing Democrat Joe Biden in a state that Trump won narrowly in his 2016 victory. Trump told the thousands gathered to hear him that ``seven days from now we're going to win the great state of Michigan.'' With just a week left until Election Day, Joe Biden is making his closing pitch to Americans with a message on unity and a call to rise above division. Speaking in Warm Springs, Georgia, the Democratic presidential nominee says national divisions have grown under

A three-storey apartment building near the shores of Skaha Lake on Penticton's southeast side has been heavily damaged in an early morning fire. Social media posts from the Penticton fire department show flames engulfing most of the top floor of the 30 unit complex. The blaze was so intense that firefighters are still waiting to conduct a sweep through the building to ensure everyone made it out safely. Crews from Summerland helped their Penticton counterparts control the fire while displaced residents have been taken to a city-run reception centre and will be housed temporarily in area hotel

A Vancouver Island man is facing charges after choosing a poor time and place to let his creative impulses flow. Nanaimo RCMP say an officer was called to a doughnut shop on Sunday when staff reported someone had just spray-painted the shop floor. The suspect was gone by the time police arrived, but as the officer was taking photos of the damaged floor, a bystander noticed someone was spray-painting the RCMP cruiser parked outside. Const. Gary O'Brien says the person was ``meticulously painting the windshield'' before delivering a final blast of paint to the side of the cruiser as the officer