BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau has released a plan to help tourism operators and small businesses battered by the COVID-19 pandemic get through the winter. Furstenau says if the Greens win the election later this month, the targeted plan will get help more quickly where it's really needed. It includes a 300-million dollar rent subsidy program that would cover 25 per cent of rental costs for qualifying small businesses. Furstenau is also promising to retool the provincial grant program to focus on supporting small tourism operators and to ensure grant money can start to flow immediately.

As of tomorrow, romantic partners of more than one year, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren and those seeking entry on compassionate grounds can apply to enter Canada. Ottawa is lifting cross-border travel restrictions for a wider range of family members. Specific details on who qualifies, what documents are required and how to apply will be released tomorrow. The closure of the border between Canada and the U-S has left many couples and families stranded on opposite sides for the past eight months.

Residents of a Vancouver neighbourhood want the city to shut down a homeless encampment at a park where people have been living in about 400 tents since the summer. Kelsey Mulyk says families in Strathcona have lost use of the park in June. Data from police show calls to the area more than tripled between June and September compared with the same period last year. Mayor Kennedy Stewart has called a special council meeting for tomorrow night on the city's homelessness problem. He wants councillors to approve his 30-million-dollar plan to buy or lease hotels and vacant commercial buildings to h

A seven-year-old girl will be honoured for helping rescue her mother after a car crash. Squamish RCMP say Adelaide Prince and her mom were driving on Highway 99 near Squamish early last month when they were both hurt after their car veered down a steep embankment. With her mom trapped, Adelaide managed to get out of the car and crawl back up to the road where she flagged down a driver who called for help. Now that daughter and mother have recovered, Squamish RCMP and the Britannia Beach Volunteer Fire Department plan to recognize the Grade Two student for her bravery and quick thinking in a ce

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says when Health Canada approves a COVID-19 vaccine, it will be free for all Canadians. Trudeau made the pledge today after N-D-P Leader Jagmeet Singh told the House of Commons Canadians are concerned about whether they will have to pay to be inoculated against the deadly virus. But how the vaccine will be distributed and who will receive it first is still unclear. Trudeau told the Commons a committee of experts will counsel the government on how to fairly distribute vaccines to everyone.

Canada's defence minister is calling out China over what he describes as its ``hostage diplomacy'' and says the NATO military alliance needs to keep tabs on the increasingly assertive Asian giant. Harjit Sajjan's comments came during a online panel discussion with counterparts from Slovakia and Latvia as two Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor remain in Chinese custody. The two Michaels were arrested in apparent retaliation for Canadian authorities' having detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in December 2018 to face fraud charges in the United States. Sajjan said China

B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson says his party would expand a program that pairs police officers with mental health workers if the party wins the provincial election. During a campaign event in Vancouver today, Wilkinson said a Liberal government would provide $58 million to hire 100 psychiatric social workers and registered nurses to staff joint teams with police to answer mental health calls. He says the Liberals would also hire 200 more police officers to fill vacancies across British Columbia and 40 new Crown prosecutors. As Wilkinson sought to boost the party's law-and-order brand

A shooting outside a restaurant in a west-side Vancouver neighbourhood has left one man injured. It happened at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in a busy section of the Dunbar area, crowded with shops and restaurants. A statement from police says a family of three was leaving a restaurant when the shots were fired. A woman and child were not hurt but a man with them was taken to hospital suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. Two people were arrested a short time later. Police have not yet said if there is a motive for the shooting or whether it was targeted.

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says six single-use plastic items that aren't easily recycled and already have more environmentally friendly alternatives will be the first to go under Canada's new restrictions on plastics. That means the end of next year will be the end of the road for plastic straws, stir sticks, carry-out bags, cutlery, dishes and takeout containers and six-pack rings for cans and bottles. Wilkinson says many of the items that aren't on that list, such as plastic bottles, will be getting new standards to require them to contain a minimum amount of recycled material