The federal auditor general is giving the Trudeau government a sort of back-handed compliment on how it handled the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karen Hogan says the government moved as fast as it could to respond to the pandemic, but on the other hand it wasn't prepared for one in the first place. Hogan's report on the government's response found the Public Health Agency of Canada spent years letting elements of pandemic preparedness slide. She found the government's financial support programs rolled out well, but now extensive efforts will be needed to ensure the money went where it was

RCMP in Alberta say a BC woman is responsible for more than 250,000 dollars in fraud connected to a scheme involving fake travel vouchers. Airdrie RCMP say they have arrested and charged 40 year old Alexandra Beckow.Beckow is from Surrey and has been arrested following an 18 month long fraud investigation. Officials say the victims reported they had purchased travel vouchers from Beckow or had fraudulent charges on their credit cards. Police say they have identified 47 victims from Alberta, BC and Ontario who were allegedly defrauded of more than 250,000 dollars.

Health Canada's chief medical adviser says the three cases of blood clotting reported out of 300,000 Canadians who have received a Oxford-AstraZeneca shot have no apparent link to the vaccine. Dr. Supriya Sharma says none of the cases resemble the very rare brain blood clot seen in a small number of patients in Europe. She notes that blood clotting rates are the same or even higher among people who have not received the AstraZeneca vaccine than for those who have been jabbed. Warning of blood clotting on product label for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Health Canada has updated the product l

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says a woman whose burned body was found in a Burnaby park was a recent immigrant from the Philippines and mother with a loving family.Ma Cecilia Loreto was 49 years old and two people, aged 21 and 15, have been charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains after her death.Corporal Frank Jang says it is ``incredible'' that Carlo Tobias and the youth are facing the most serious murder charges in the book, but he cannot say much about the case as it's before the courts.He did say that the three knew each other, the alleged killing was

Two cases have been registered, one each in Karnataka's Shivamogga and Haveri, against Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Rakesh Tikait over his recent speech in Shivamogga.On Saturday, while addressing a gathering of farmers, Tikait had said farmers in Karnataka should organise a protest in the state similar to that of Delhi and gherao Bengaluru from all sides."You need to make a 'Delhi' in Bengaluru. You need to gherao Bengaluru (like Delhi) from all sides and people will come and join your protest...The Prime Minister said farmers can sell crops anywhere so you take your crops to offices

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has on Wednesday established a 40-bed hospital at Tikri border for the farmers who are protesting against the Centre's three farm laws for several months.In an official statement, the national in-charge of INLD, Arjun Chautala said: "The government wanted to deprive the farmers of health facilities so that the farm movement could be hampered. So our party decided to provide healthcare service at the maximum level.""We decided to establish a medical camp at Tikri border in which a temporary hospital carrying 40 beds has been established to look after the health of

A lawyer for Canada's attorney general says it was entirely reasonable for border officers to question Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou before her arrest in 2018. Diba Majzub told the B.C. Supreme Court that Meng's arrival at a port of entry created a unique context where both the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency had mandates to fulfil. He says there's no playbook or operations manual that spells out which organization should go first. Majzub made the comments as he disputed claims from Meng's legal team that Canadian and U.S. officials co-ordinated a covert criminal investigation under th

BC is reporting 716 more cases of COVID-19 just as the province sets out new plans to have laid-off tourism and hospitality workers help with the immunization rollout. Today's additions bring BC's case count to 93 thousand 969 since the pandemic began. The province also reported three new deaths, for a toll of one thousand 441. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement that there has been "much progress" in BC's vaccine program. However, they urged residents to continue working together to help combat the pandemic. They say people who r

New financial data shows operating revenues for the City of Vancouver dropped by 90 million dollars, in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Kennedy Stewart says the city was able to save some money through more than 1,800 layoffs and the deferral of expensive capital projects as well as city council taking a 10 per cent pay cut. Stewart says the city is in much better shape than this time last year. A report on the city's budget says it expects the pandemic to continue to negatively affect non-tax revenues in to 2021. City of Vancouver on Twitter: Today the City released its 2020 S