Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says council is prepared to quickly approve a plan to give restaurants more room for physical distancing by enlarging their outdoor space. Helps says the COVID-19 recovery plan would allow restaurants and pubs to expand open-air dining to sidewalks, parking lots and streets closed to traffic. She says staff will be urged to find ways to have the plan in place as the industry prepares to welcome back customers later this month. Vancouver city council is also preparing to debate the issue of making more room for restaurants.

Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry is reporting 23 new cases of COVID-19 since Saturday and another death. That raises the total cases in the province to 2,352, with 130 deaths. Henry says if the province continues with such low numbers, it will be ready to move to phase two of the pandemic restart plan next week. She also says she got outside on the weekend and found most people were following physical distancing rules. Despite a small minority seen at crowded beaches and parks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government will continue to push for caution in terms of lifting COVID-19 restrictions. Trudeau says leaders across the country are trying to find the right balance in terms of easing back on the lockdown and reopening the economy. But he says the sacrifices that Canadians have made over the past two months will ``all go up in smoke'' if the wrong choices are made. The comments came as schools in parts of Quebec reopened today even though the province has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, says there are about a dozen potential vaccines that officials are hoping will prevent COVID-19, though none is more promising than the others. A vaccine has been seen as critical for returning to pre-pandemic normal, with researchers in Canada and around the world scrambling to develop one as quickly as possible. Even as that work is going on, Tam says officials are also looking at how a vaccine will be rolled out to people if and when one is discovered. Health Minister Patty Hajdu says the government is also looking at ways to ensure de

A B.C. government decision to allow Teck Resources' coal mines in southeastern B.C. to use a new type of water treatment has prompted a stern response from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It has written a letter to Environment Minister George Heyman demanding data on why the mines can exceed guidelines for the release of selenium, a toxic heavy metal. The agency wants to do its own assessment of the water treatment system, because it says the new technology is not effective over large areas or for long periods of time. The letter to Heyman, sent February 4th, follows U.S. concerns t

B.C. is in a better position to chart a long-term vision for the province according to the final report of the Emerging Economy Task Force. The 14-member task force has made 25 recommendations to help B.C. navigate global trends and technological advancements over the next 10 to 25 years. The report will also be a valuable resource to help inform the province's COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery. The recommendations are presented within five key strategic priorities:* embracing technology and innovation* leveraging B.C.'s green economy* building a highly skilled and adaptable workforce* ensu

The RCMP says three of the four semi-automatic weapons used by a gunman during last month's mass shooting in Nova Scotia are believed to have come from the United States. The federal force says in a news release today that only one of the guns could be traced back to a source in Canada. The Mounties are still declining to reveal the brand or the calibre of the weapons, two handguns and two rifles used during the April 18-19 rampage that killed 22 people in five communities around the province. Gabriel Wortman, who police have said didn't have a licence for the weapons, was shot and killed by

The federal government says it will provide loans and financing to the country's largest employers to help them weather the COVID-19 economic crisis. The Liberals are promising bridge financing to companies whose financial needs aren't being met by conventional credit so they can stay open and keep employees on their payrolls. The government says in a release that another goal of the financing program, aimed at companies with $300 million or more in revenues, is to avoid bankruptcies of otherwise viable firms wherever possible. Rules on access to the money will place limits on dividends, share

Quebec children have begun heading back to class today for the first time since March as the province reopens elementary schools and daycares outside the Montreal area. Quebec is the first province to open schools following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and school officials say it will be far from business as usual. Students are being met by staff wearing masks and in some cases face shields, and they are being told to follow physical-distancing rules and wash their hands frequently. Libraries, gyms and cafeterias will be closed, and children will spend most of the day at their desks