British Columbia's Opposition Liberal leader says he will target the New Democrat government's weak spots on the issues of crime, affordability and health care when he takes his seat in the legislature later this month. Kevin Falcon was elected Liberal leader earlier this year and won a byelection in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding over the weekend.Falcon says he'll pressure the NDP for answers on its failures to address crime in urban centres, doctor shortages, increasing health-care wait times and rising home, fuel and food costs.He says people in B.C. are feeling unsafe in communities due to

Over the past month, members of Prince George RCMP’s Street Crew Unit conducted an investigation into drug trafficking in Prince George. Police arrested two men in the course of the investigation, seizing over 70 grams of suspected fentanyl, cash and drug trafficking paraphernalia off one of the suspects. Both of the men are well known to police for their ties to the illicit drug trade in Prince George.Police executed two Controlled Drug and Substance Act warrants, one at a residence on the 2000 block of Pine Street, the other at an apartment building on the 1700 block of 17th Ave, where inv

Police in Saskatoon say five Surrey residents, all aged 19 or younger, are facing a total of 28 charges in that Saskatchewan city. Police say they were called yesterday to reports of vehicles racing and, when they arrived, a man told them he had been threatened by a suspect carrying a gun. The 5 BC residents were spotted near a BC registered minivan and a search of the vehicle turned up a knife, bear mace, an axe, BB gun, two baseball bats and bottles of alcohol. Two men aged 18 and 19, a girl aged 14 and a girl and boy both aged 15, are in custody and police say they are expected to appear i

Health Minister Adrian Dix says BC has almost wiped out the backlog of surgeries that developed during the pandemic and was made worse by last summer's heat wave and November's catastrophic floods. Dix says 400 nurses and 100 technicians have been trained through the province's surgical renewal program and efforts are underway to increase hiring. He made the announcement at a news conference this morning, saying most of the surgeries postponed during the fifth wave of COVID-19 have now been performed. Dix says 1,7000 operating room hours were added last year, allowing completion of more than5

Canada has become one of the first countries in the world to require online crowdfunding platforms to report to its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, government officials told a special committee examining the truck convoy protest and the steps the government took to end it. Finance department officials said new regulations went into effect last week, adding crowdfunding platforms and some payment processing companies to the list of companies obliged to report large or suspicious transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, Canada's financial in

The RBI on Wednesday raised its key lending rate by 40 basis points to 4.40 per cent with immediate effect. The central bank also hiked the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points. The decision was taken by the monetary policy committee (MPC) in an off-cycle meeting with the central board held May 2-4. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the decision was taken in view of rising inflation, geo-political tensions, high crude oil prices and shortage of commodities globally, which have impacted Indian economy. The RBI cautioned that the economy faces global spillovers risks from geopolitical tensions,

India reported 3,205 new coronavirus infections in a day, pushing the number of active cases to 19,509 and the overall tally to 4,30,88,118, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The data released at 8 am also showed that 31 fatalities - 29 of them from Kerala alone - were reported in a 24-hour span, taking the cumulative death toll to 5,23,920. One death each was recorded from Maharashtra and Delhi, the data showed. Patiala's National Law University becomes Covid hotspot with 46 more positive cases. As many as 60 positive cases of covid have been reported at the un

Police say an off-duty corrections officer who was gunned down in a Walmart parking lot in Delta, B.C., was killed in a case of mistaken identity. The Delta Police Department says investigators believe Bikramdeep Randhawa was shot because his killers thought he was part of the Lower Mainland gang conflict. Police also say they are confident they have identified the suspects involved in the murder. Deputy Chief Harj Sidhu says it's a tragedy to see an innocent person caught up in such senseless violence. Police say they are publicly relaying to Randhawa's family and B.C. Corrections Services t

A man who was fleeing arrest for a gang-related murder in Thailand has been confirmed as one of the victims of a plane crash in northwestern Ontario. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC says in a release that Gene Lahrkamp, one of two men wanted for the February shooting of BC gang member Jimi Sandhu, died in the April 30th plane crash near Sioux Lookout. The CFSEU, which investigates gang-related crime in BC, says Lahrkamp and Mathew Dupre, who was arrested in February for Sandhu's slaying, both fled Thailand for Canada after the shooting. Lahrkamp was named late last month as