A new report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows the rental market vacancy rate in this country's largest cities reached 3.2 per cent last year, while the rate in Metro Vancouver more than doubled to 2.6, the highest it has been in more than two decades. CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan says the pandemic cut into rental demand for several reasons including lower international migration, fewer student renters and a sagging employment market. But the report says rents continue to creep up in large cities. Report suggests Vancouver is leading the pack at just under 1,800 dollars per

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard's lawyers have told a judge they've hired a security company that will ensure their client follows rules for release if he is granted bail. The 79 year old was arrested last month in Winnipeg under the Extradition Act and is facing nine charges of sex trafficking and racketeering in the United States. Federal lawyers want Nygard to remain in custody and want to know how he'll pay for the security firm if his finances are in dire straits, as he has suggested. Peter Nygard will remain in jail for another week, despite his lawyers laying out an updated bail plan. Just

Two men found guilty of killing six people in British Columbia's most notorious gang slayings will be allowed a hearing to argue their claims of abuse of process, but their guilty verdicts stand. The British Columbia Court of Appeal has upheld the first-degree murder verdicts for Matthew Johnston and Cody Haevischer in the so-called Surrey Six killings in October 2007. The court denied their request for a new trial, but it did quash their convictions and send the matter back to court for a hearing on their applications for a stay of proceedings over the abuse of process claims. The Appeal Cour

The man overseeing the country's national vaccine rollout says Canada is getting 149,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine over the next two weeks. That's only one-fifth of what had been promised before the company slowed production in a bid to ramp up operations in Belgium. Canada has been saying for several weeks that the shipments would return to normal in mid-February, but Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin now says Pfizer is sending 335,000 doses the week of Feb. 15, which is still only 91 per cent of the previous delivery schedule. Fortin says the deliveries still are based on five doses per vial.

It's been a year since the first case of COVID-19 showed up in BC and health officials are urging residents to keep their guard up against allowing the virus to spread. A joint statement from provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix says there are infection hot spots in the province, including Fernie and Williams Lake. Fraser Health reports that nine inmates and two staff at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge have tested positive. BC recorded 485 new case yesterday and four more COVID-19 related deaths for a total of 1,172 fatalities. Ja

The search has been called off for a plane that went missing between Victoria and Port Angeles, Washington, on Tuesday. The United States Coast Guard says in a tweet that American and Canadian rescuers covered an area of more than 3,000 square kilometres without finding the lone pilot.The pilot who issued a mayday call before losing contact. Crews worked through the night Tuesday and used all the daylight hours yesterday to cover a massive search area in the Juan de Fuca Strait. A Canadian Coast Guard vessel and a search plane from Comox, BC, assisted in the American-led efforts to find the s

Accusing the Central government of hatching a conspiracy against farmers, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said the farmers will not call off their sit-in protest against the agricultural reform laws until they hold discussions with the government."We will continue our sit-in protest and will not vacate site till talks with the government are held. The administration has removed basic facilities including water and electricity supply. We will get water from our villages," Tikait told mediapersons here.The BKU spokesperson also turned emotional and alleged that

The review of Rideau Hall that led governor general Julie Payette to resign found dozens of people who called the working conditions there hostile, negative, toxic or poisoned. The government released the review by Quintet Consulting Corp. Wednesday evening.It's heavily redacted, primarily to protect participants' privacy, and whole pages of details are blacked out or removed.But the review says representative comments about Rideau Hall include phrases such as "the definition of a poisoned work environment," and "humiliation," "disrespect" and "condescension." It says participants reported ye

Premier John Horgan says most people in British Columbia are doing their best to follow public health guidelines during COVID-19 pandemic, but some are acting badly. The premier called a B.C. couple "un-Canadian" for travelling to Yukon where they're alleged to have jumped the queue to get an early COVID-19 vaccine shot. Horgan says it's disconcerting that some people are holding large gatherings in Vancouver penthouses and others are looking for parties in Whistler despite health restrictions. But he says while a few people are looking for loopholes, most are sticking to the rules and contrib