Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the Liberal government to ease access to paid sick leave for Canadian workers to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Singh is criticizing the lag between filing for the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and receiving it, a delay he compared to applying for employment insurance. He is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to recall Parliament and legislate 10 days of paid sick leave for federally regulated employees through the Canada Labour Code, and to further promote the one-week, $500 benefit that is already in place. The New Democrat leader says upt

Bhupinder Singh Mann, the National President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann) and Chairman of the All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC), on Thursday recused himself from the 4-member committee constituted by the Supreme Court to resolve the impasse between farmers and the Centre over the new farm laws.This comes a day before the Central government is scheduled to hold the next round of talks with farmers' unions in New Delhi on Friday.Former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, Mann said he is "thankful" to the top court for nominating him in the committee but would "sacrifice" any positio

The professional group for emergency doctors in Canada wants more transparency about COVID-19 vaccine distribution.The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians is calling for a clear description of who is being prioritized for the first doses and why. It also wants priority to go to those directly caring for patients who are critically ill or suspected of having COVID-19.The association says many members in areas with limited human resources have not been vaccinated, but urban providers who have less patient contact appear to have received doses.A Wednesday statement says communication ab

British Columbia health officials say they've added a senior official to the province's immunization response team to help with the program as it gets more complex. Dr. Penny Ballem will be the executive lead and work with the health minister and other officials to ensure the province is ready for community immunization when the vaccine supply is more readily available in April. So far, 63,430 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in B.C. and officials say work is underway to align the available supply with a person's level of risk. The province is reporting 519 new cases of COVID-19 and 12

A BC born gold medallist at two Olympic Games has died of cancer. Rowing Canada says Kathleen Heddle died at home in Vancouver on Monday at the age of 55. Heddle and Marnie McBean won Olympic gold medals in rowing in 1992 and 1996 and Heddle also won another gold with the women's eight in 1992. A statement issued on behalf of her family says the rower born in Trail had been battling several forms of cancer for six years. Tweet from Rowing Canada Aviron: It is with great sadness that we share this news on behalf of the family of Kathleen Heddle: https://bit.ly/3oIEX5l

A judge says he will reserve his decision on whether to loosen bail restrictions for Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng's lawyers want her to be allowed to leave her Vancouver home outside the hours of her curfew without being accompanied by private security staff, who they say put her at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. The chief financial officer for Huawei is wanted in the United States on fraud charges based on allegations that both she and the company deny. Justice William Ehrcke of the B.C. Supreme Court says he will reserve his decision and raised the possibility of issuing

Canada's new COVID-19 testing requirement for international travellers has caused hundreds of people to miss flights in the first week of the program's rollout. Under the new restrictions, all passengers flying to Canada from another country must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken at most 72 hours prior to departure. Since the testing mandate went into effect on Jan. 7, WestJet says it has denied boarding to at least 385 guests because they did not meet the requirements. Similarly, Air Transat has denied boarding to at least 245 passengers for testing-related reasons since Jan. 7, a

Ice jams are building along the Nechako River in central British Columbia and officials in Vanderhoof say flooding of nearby properties is possible. The district has posted a warning advising its roughly 4.500 residents to stay clear of the riverbanks. Ice jams began building on the waterway in mid-December, but the warning says the blockages worsened this week. The District of Vanderhoof website says the jams have the potential to cause severe, unexpected changes in river levels. Mayor Gerry Thiessen posted photos on social media showing water nearly topping the decks of several homes overlo

A majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump on a single count of inciting an insurrection. The historic vote, which included 10 Republicans voting in favour with a handful of votes still outstanding, makes Trump the first president in American history to be impeached a second time. It may also be the swiftest such proceeding in the history of Congress, coming just one week after a horde of angry Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill. Several Republicans, including third-ranking House Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, voted with their Democr