British Columbia's top doctor and health minister say the overdose crisis is as important as the COVID-19 pandemic the province has been dealing with for over a year. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix say there's no vaccine to help end the deaths associated with toxic opioids that contributed to a record 1,713 fatalities in 2020. They say in a joint statement that another 1,278 people have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year. Nine more deaths have been recorded in the province and 449 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 72,305 cases. Dr. Henry and Dix say nearly 160,000 dose

A month-long slowdown in Canada's COVID-19 vaccine deliveries will finally be over. In a virtual roundtable with nurses and doctors from around Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the rollout of vaccines across the country has been lagging. But federal officials now say the pace will pick up starting next week. Trudeau says things are about to get better in the fight against the coronavirus, with Canada approaching something he called "the big lift" with millions of vaccines about to reach our shores. Pfizer will ship 400,000 doses to Canada starting MondayThe single bigge

RCMP say a south Okanagan man in his 40s and his dog died in yesterday's crash on the Coquihalla Highway just outside Hope that closed the route for 12 hours. Corporal Mike Halskov says the chain-reaction collision began when a semi-trailer stopped in the northbound lanes of Highway 5 in the S-curves and was hit from behind as the unnamed victim lost control of his pickup truck on the icy road. Halskov says about 50 people in at least two dozen vehicles, one of them a bus, were involved in the pileup and five people suffered significant injuries but only one person with broken bones remains i

City councillors in Vancouver have voted to name a new road in honour of Nora Hendrix, the grandmother of legendary musician Jimi Hendrix. But Doctor June Francis, co-chair of the Hogans Alley Society, says the city's naming committee didn't involve members in the process when they decided on Nora Hendrix Way. She says Nora Hendrix was a pillar of the Strathcona community and is held in high esteem but members needed to have a say in the decision and celebrate it after working closely with the committee. No one from the naming committee was available to respond to a request for comment. This

The Manitoba government is committing to buy two million doses of a prospective Canadian vaccine that is in clinical trials. Premier Brian Pallister says his government has signed with Providence Therapeutics, which operates in Toronto and Calgary and started the trials last month. He says the deal includes a best-price guarantee and hinges on the vaccine being approved for use in Canada. Premier Brian Pallister says his government has signed a term sheet with Providence Therapeutics, which operates in Toronto and Calgary and started the trials last month. Pallister says provinces have had to

Voting is being postponed in parts of Newfoundland in Saturday's provincial election. The elections officer is delaying voting in 18 districts across the Avalon Peninsula, including in St. John's. Officials say with a record 53 new COVID-19 cases and 32 presumptive cases reported yesterday, they can't hang on to enough workers to staff the polls. Voting will go ahead as planned in other parts of the province, but the results won't be released until all the voting has been completed. Mail-in voting options have been extended. Prof. Michael Pal, a University of Ottawa law professor who speciali

The Central government has conveyed to Twitter officials that the manner in which the social media giant officially allows fake, unverified, and automated bot accounts to be operated on its platform, raises doubts about its commitment to transparency and healthy conversation on the platform.This meeting took place in view of the order issued by the Centre directing Twitter to remove tweets and accounts using hashtag related to "farmer genocide" and accounts supported by Khalistan sympathisers and backed by Pakistan and blog post issued by Twitter.The Ministry of Electronics and Information Tec

Responding to queries on Twitter suspending nearly 500 accounts after receiving orders from the Indian government, the US reiterated its commitment to supporting democratic values including freedom of expression."What I would say generally, is that around the world, we are committed to supporting democratic values including freedom of expression. I think when it comes to Twitter's policies we would have to refer you to Twitter itself," said US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price, when asked on his comments on the situation.This comes after Twitter on Wednesday informed that it has taken

Bombardier Inc. said Thursday it will reduce its overall workforce by about 1,600 jobs as it moves to cut costs.The company said it is making the cuts as it consolidates its Global aircraft completion work in Montreal and reviews options for underutilized hangar and industrial space at its Quebec facilities.``Workforce reductions are always very difficult, and we regret seeing talented and dedicated employees leave the company for any reason,'' Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel said in a statement.``But these reductions are absolutely necessary for us to rebuild our company while we cont