Joe Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday, making history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket and acknowledging the vital role Black voters will play in his bid to defeat President Donald Trump.In choosing Harris, Biden is embracing a former rival from the Democratic primary who is familiar with the unique rigour of a national campaign. Harris, a 55-year-old first-term senator, is also one of the party’s most prominent figures and quickly became a top contender for the No. 2 spot after her own White House c

The chief public health officer says Canada will not cut corners to get a vaccine for COVID-19 approved. Dr. Theresa Tam says she has full confidence in Health Canada's process to approve a vaccine. She says she is cautiously optimistic that will happen soon but says safety will not be compromised to get there. Her words come as Russia approved the world's first COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday. Her deputy, Dr. Howard Njoo, says the Russian product went from discovery to approval unusually fast. He says there is not really any information available about the safety or effectiveness of the Russian vac

The financially struggling BC Ferries will be eligible to receive funding through the joint federal and provincial Safe Restart Agreement.Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the ferry service will be eligible for some of the $540-million financial package meant to spur recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.Wilkinson says the B.C. government will have to match the funds and it will determine how much BC Ferries and other transit providers will receive. Provincial Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says the province is working closely with BC Ferries, BC Transit and TransLink to under

The health authority in Vancouver is warning those who shopped at the Foot Locker on Robson Street to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19. Vancouver Coastal Health says the potential exposure dates were Aug. 4 and Aug. 5 during operating hours. It says the possible exposures are believed to be low risk, but it asks those who may have visited the store during that time to monitor for symptoms and get tested if they are feeling ill. Advisories have also been issued for passengers on several planes arriving or leaving Vancouver after positive COVID-19 tests related to those flights. Affected flight

Squamish RCMP say a man has died after slipping off an inflatable at a lake in Murrin Provincial Park. Mounties say they were called early yesterday evening about a swimmer missing on Browning Lake. When they arrived they say they were told the man, in his 20s, had slipped off the inflatable and couldn't be found. He was located a short time later, pulled from the water and rushed to hospital but police say he didn't survive.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has full confidence in Finance Minister Bill Morneau and that any reports to the contrary are false.Trudeau's office has taken the unusual step of issuing a statement in support of Morneau in a bid to shut down speculation the finance minister is about to be fired.Opposition parties have been calling for Morneau's resignation over allegations that he had a conflict of interest in the WE Charity affair.News that Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, is helping to advise Trudeau on the post-pandemic economic recovery

Vancouver police are seeking witnesses to an assault last week on the city's Downtown Eastside, saying the details could be critical to what is now a homicide investigation. A statement from police says 64-year-old Jeff Strom was assaulted and seriously injured last Thursday and died two days later in hospital. The death is Vancouver's tenth homicide of the year.An arrest was made following the assault and charges against the man in custody have been upgraded to manslaughter.Sgt. Aaron Roed says investigators believe there may be more witnesses who haven't spoken with detectives and their inf

Two federal cabinet ministers and the country's top public servant will be grilled today about how a charity with close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wound up administering a $912-million student grant program.The House of Commons ethics committee is scheduled to hear from Youth Minister Bardish Chagger, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and Ian Shugart, clerk of the Privy Council.The committee is ostensibly conducting a review of the existing safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest when the federal government is deciding how to spend taxpayers' dollars.But opposition M

Rajasthan former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders in the national capital on August 10. While briefing the media about the meeting, Pilot said, "Since past some time some MLAs were in Delhi, there were some issues which we wanted to highlight. I did that. I'd been saying since beginning that all these things were based on principle. I always thought these things are essential to be raised in party's interest". He further added, "Several things were said, I heard a lot of things. I was surprised by a few things that were sa