To ensure schools are ready to welcome students into classrooms for the week of Sept. 8-11, 2020, there will be a gradual restart to allow extra time to orient students and staff on the new health and safety measures in place."Schools are going to look different in September," said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. "Staff, students and parents need time to get familiar with all the new health and safety procedures that are designed to keep them safe and confident in their school settings." Starting Sept. 8, all staff will meet with their school's joint health and safety committee to receive

The British Columbia Coroners Service says two people have died after a Canadian fishing boat sank in waters west of Vancouver Island.The United States Coast Guard says it received a distress call early Tuesday advising the Arctic Fox II was in trouble more than 100 kilometres off the northwestern tip of Washington State.The 20-metre boat was gone by the time a helicopter reached the scene, but the coast guard says a single crew member was rescued from a lifeboat. The bodies of the other two crew members, who were both Canadian, have been recovered and the coroners s

Today's sitting of Parliament is expected to be the last one that will see Andrew Scheer in the role of Conservative leader.In addition to being an MP from Regina since 2004, he also served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015.It was after the Tories lost government in 2015, and the subsequent resignation of then-leader Stephen Harper, that Scheer decided to go for the leadership job.He won in 2017, eking out a very narrow victory over fellow MP Maxime Bernier.He spent the next two years trying to gain recognition across the country, while shoring up the party's war chest

There are 120,421 confirmed cases in Canada. Quebec: 60,718 confirmed (including 5,697 deaths, 53,135 resolved) Ontario: 40,194 confirmed (including 2,786 deaths, 36,456 resolved) Alberta: 11,772 confirmed (including 216 deaths, 10,552 resolved) British Columbia: 4,111 confirmed (including 195 deaths, 3,444 resolved) Saskatchewan: 1,479 confirmed (including 20 deaths, 1,294 resolved) Nova Scotia: 1,071 confirmed (including 64 deaths, 1,007 resolved) Manitoba: 547 confirmed (including 8 deaths, 360 resolved), 15 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 268 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 263 reso

Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia. "Today, we are announcing 46 new cases, for a total of 4,111 cases in British Columbia. "There are 472 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,444 people who tested positive have recovered. "Currently, eight people are hospitalized with COVID-19, five of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. "There have been no new COVID

President Donald Trump says he's ``a little surprised'' that his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has selected Kamala Harris as his running mate. Trump told reporters at a White House briefing that Harris ``was very disrespectful to Joe Biden'' during the Democratic primaries, and said ``it's hard to pick somebody that's that disrespectful.'' He's also noting that Harris ''did very poorly'' when she ran for the nomination, she dropped out in December, and says, ``That's like a poll.'' Trump is trying to paint Harris as too far left, saying she wants to raise taxes, slash funds for the militarily

Joe Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday, making history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket and acknowledging the vital role Black voters will play in his bid to defeat President Donald Trump.In choosing Harris, Biden is embracing a former rival from the Democratic primary who is familiar with the unique rigour of a national campaign. Harris, a 55-year-old first-term senator, is also one of the party’s most prominent figures and quickly became a top contender for the No. 2 spot after her own White House c

The chief public health officer says Canada will not cut corners to get a vaccine for COVID-19 approved. Dr. Theresa Tam says she has full confidence in Health Canada's process to approve a vaccine. She says she is cautiously optimistic that will happen soon but says safety will not be compromised to get there. Her words come as Russia approved the world's first COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday. Her deputy, Dr. Howard Njoo, says the Russian product went from discovery to approval unusually fast. He says there is not really any information available about the safety or effectiveness of the Russian vac

The financially struggling BC Ferries will be eligible to receive funding through the joint federal and provincial Safe Restart Agreement.Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the ferry service will be eligible for some of the $540-million financial package meant to spur recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.Wilkinson says the B.C. government will have to match the funds and it will determine how much BC Ferries and other transit providers will receive. Provincial Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says the province is working closely with BC Ferries, BC Transit and TransLink to under