The Nature Conservancy of Canada says a new conservation area north of Cranbrook, B.C., will protect important bird habitat and preserve grasslands in the province's southeast. The conservancy says money from the federal government and private donors went to buying up 271 hectares of land in the Skookumchuk Prairie in the province's southeast corner. Richard Klafki, a B.C. program director with the Nature Conservancy, says the land which also includes wetlands and forests is a "key biodiversity area," and came up for sale when the former owner, a local rancher, decided to downsize. Klafki says

Political rallies are going on in Punjab in view of the Lok Sabha elections on June 1, in the meantime, Panthak leader Baljit Singh Daduwal has invited Shiromani Akali Dal's candidate from Bathinda to defeat Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Daduwal, who reached Bathinda, invited the voters to vote for any candidate who can defeat Harsimrat, but the Badal family must be disciplined in this election because they have earned a heresy with Punjab and Panth. He alleged that the Akalis' role in the desecration and Behbal shooting incident in Punjab was anti-Sikh and the closeness of the Badal family with the

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is campaigning for elections in Punjab, has requested the Supreme Court to extend the current bail by another 7 days citing health issues. His bail is ending on June 1 in the Delhi liquor scam case. The Supreme Court granted him 21 days bail on May 10 for the election campaign and on June 2 asked him to return to jail anyway. In the latest petition, Kejriwal has said that his weight has decreased by seven kg, some medical tests need to be done and therefore the period of interim bail which expires on June 1 should be extended.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is increasing the number of applications that will be processed under a much-criticized program to reunite Palestinians with Canadian relatives. The move comes as he testifies about measures introduced months ago that were meant to bring relatives of Canadians from conflict zones in the Gaza Strip and Sudan to safety. The Gaza program initially had a cap of 1,000 applications that could be "accepted into processing," but Miller is now increasing that number to 5,000, each of which can include multiple family members. Palestinian Canadians have complained about

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold another rally a day before the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. He will address the rally in Hoshiarpur on May 30. On the same day, election campaigning will end at 5 pm and voting will be held for 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab on June 1. PM Narendra Modi will campaign for BJP candidate Anita Som Prakash in Hoshiarpur. Earlier last week, he addressed election rallies in Patiala, Gurdaspur and Jalandhar.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand says Ottawa is developing a new artificial intelligence strategy for government operations. She says the strategy will help make government more efficient and improve services for Canadians. The effort will include setting up a specific division to retrain existing public servants. Anand made the announcement at a meeting with experts who are convening in Gatineau, Que., to discuss developing the strategy. The federal government has already begun incorporating AI into its operations, using the technology in hundreds of different ways. These talks come as ei

Residents in Fort Nelson are able to go home today after being evacuated for more than two weeks due to wildfires. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and the Fort Nelson First Nation say they'll jointly rescind their evacuation orders at 8 a.m., lift roadblocks and allow people to return. About 4,700 residents were evacuated from Fort Nelson on May 10, when strong winds pushed the Parker Lake wildfire within a few kilometres of the town. The fire destroyed four homes and damaged six other properties in the area. Crews are also fighting the Patry Creek fire north of town, which is a hol

Mounties say two people have died following a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. A statement from the RCMP says police were able to access the remote crash site south of Squamish, on the west side of Howe Sound, by air on Saturday and confirm the two occupants of the plane did not survive. The plane crash was reported Friday evening after an automatic crash notification from a smartphone. The police statement says investigators are working with the Transportation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service to determine the cause of the crash. The statement thanks Squamish Search and Rescue, Blackcom

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal expelled his brother-in-law and grandson of former chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, Adaesh Pratap Singh Kairon, who was a four-time MLA from Patti Vidhan Sabha constituency, from the party. Akali candidate Virsa Singh Valtoha from Khadur Sahib had complained against Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon accusing him of anti-party activities. According to Valtoha, Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon was involved in anti-party activities for a long time and was calling the workers and asking them to vote for anyone but not to vote for Valtoha. Valtoha said that I