New Democrat Raj Chouhan is the new Speaker at the BC legislature. He was first elected as the member of the legislature for Burnaby-Edmonds in 2005 and previously served as deputy Speaker. Chouhan was acclaimed Speaker this morning. The office of the Speaker says he is the first person of South Asian heritage to be elected to the post in British Columbia or in any Canadian parliamentary jurisdiction. Premier John Horgan paid tribute to Chouhan's achievement, saying his election today to serve as the Speaker of the B-C legislature makes history.

Vancouver police say the body of a man was found on the athletic track at Strathcona Park on Sunday. The park is the site of a large homeless camp. Vancouver Constable Tania Visintin says they don't yet know the cause of death. She says investigators won't speculate on that if the death is suspicious.

Politicians get back to work today at the BC legislature with one main goal in mind after the NDP won a majority government. Premier John Horgan says this short session before Christmas will be used to start the process of getting out the COVID relief benefit of one-thousand dollars for eligible families and 500 dollars for individuals. The session will start with a throne speech with some members in the house while others attend virtually because of COVID-19 restrictions. Interim Liberal Leader Shirley Bond says she'd like to see an update on the province's finances after the government esti

Today's the day that provincewide COVID-19 restrictions are supposed to be lifted, but BC's top doctor has hinted there may be an extension of the controls. Dr. Bonnie Henry said last week that it was clear transmissions were not dropping as health officials had hoped. The daily case counts ranged from near 600 to over 800 last week, while the death toll didn't go below 11 each day. Dr. Henry even introduced more restrictions late last week on adult sports and indoor fitness classes.

Lawyers for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou are back in a Vancouver court today amid a swirl of speculation over a proposed plea agreement with the United States. A Wall Street Journal report said US officials were discussing an agreement that would see Meng admit some guilt over allegations she violated American sanctions against Iran, charges she's always denied. Today's BC Supreme Court hearing was scheduled to gather evidence based on her lawyer's claims of an abuse of process by police and Canada Border Services agents when she was arrested two years ago. Meng's arrest at the Vancouver air

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the first COVID-19 vaccine doses are on track to arrive this month, as tough new measures took effect in Prince Edward Island and Ontario hit a new daily case record today. Trudeau says Ottawa has reached an agreement with Pfizer to have up to 249,000 doses delivered, pending Health Canada approval, and that the first shipments could come next week. In Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island entered what it's calling a two-week "circuit-breaker" lockdown after seven new cases of the virus were reported over the weekend. The province reported four new ca

The military, health workers and government officials will go through a practice run today of the complex plan to deliver COVID-19 vaccines across the country.The first vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNtech, could be approved for use in Canada as early as this week. And Major-General Dany Fortin, who's leading the military through the vaccine distribution process, says the dry run is intended to get everyone involved comfortable with the intense requirements of handling a vaccine that has to be kept below minus 70 Celcius at all times.The national operations centre quarterbacking the effort is loo

After its fifth round of talks on Saturday with farmer group leaders remained inconclusive, the Centre announced another meeting on December 9. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today reassured the agitating farmers that central government is ready to resolve all their issues. He also said that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system will continue and there is "no threat to it." Addressing a press conference after the meeting at Vigyan Bhawan, Tomar said: "We have said that the MSP will continue, there is no threat to it. It is baseless to doubt this. Still, if someone is suspicio

British Columbia's top doctor and the health minister are urging the public to slow the spread of COVID-19 this weekend by limiting any festive gatherings to immediate households. Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix say 711 new infections have been recorded in the province and 11 more people have died, for a total of 492 fatalities. British Columbia is recording 711 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 9,050. They say in a joint statement that B.C. is continuing to see a significant surge in community transmission so all public health orders must be followed as more than 36,000