The mayor of Metro Vancouver's second-most populous city says ride-hailing is operating illegally in his municipality and drivers who are caught will be fined. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum told a news conference Monday that ride-hailing companies require a municipal business licence and his city has not created a licensing regime. The city earlier warned Uber to stop operations although the company said it had all the necessary provincial licences. McCallum says 18 warnings were issued to drivers over the weekend but the grace period is over and any violators will be ticketed and face a fine of

B-C officials say a wolf that had been spotted roaming near the provincial legislature is on its way back to the wilderness. The wolf was first spotted on Saturday in the James Bay area of Victoria and was captured yesterday after police and residents worked to keep it contained until the B-C Conservation Officer Service arrived. The adult male wolf was tranquilized and safely removed. The conservation service says in a tweet that the wolf was determined to be a suitable candidate for release and was being transferred to an undisclosed wilderness location.

The RCMP say a series of four separate sexual assaults in and around Glen Park in Coquitlam, B.C., are linked. The Mounties say in a news release Monday that the first two incidents happened on Dec. 16 and Dec. 19, and two more cases occurred last Wednesday and on Saturday. The release says in each incident, the suspect targeted an adult woman by touching or slapping her and quickly running away. The alleged attacks all happened between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Cpl. Michael McLaughlin of Coquitlam RCMP says the incidents happened so quickly that no one saw the suspect's face, but he's described as a

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says eight Canadians in Wuhan have asked his government for help. He says Canada knows of 167 citizens in the region of China that's at the epicentre of an outbreak of a new respiratory virus. China has sharply restricted travel in and out of the province of about 60 million people in an effort to keep the illness from spreading. Although the virus is new and scientists are still working on understanding it, most cases seem to be mild. Some of Canada's allies have evacuated diplomatic offices in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus was

The government on Monday invited preliminary bids to divest its entire stake in Air India, and the airline's subsidiary Air India Express along with its joint venture Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited. As per a preliminary information memorandum (PIM) issued by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, the last date for submission of expression of interest is March 17 and qualified bidders will be notified March 31. "The Government of India (GOI) has given 'in-principle' approval for strategic disinvestment of Air India (AI) by way of the transfer of management c

Premier John Horgan has appointed Nathan Cullen as a liaison between the Province and the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs. Cullen, a former member of parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, is tasked with acting as an intermediary by providing fact-finding, facilitation and analysis to support a peaceful resolution to the Coastal Gaslink dispute. "I'm pleased all parties have agreed to the appointment of a liaison," Premier Horgan said. "Nathan has agreed to act as an intermediary in the hopes of finding a solution to this challenging dispute." Cullen will work with the Wet'suwet'en Denezeh and

Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 4.4 earthquake has struck of the coast of Vancouver Island. The seismic event was detected at 1:35 p.m. Pacific time. The United States Geological Survey says the quake occurred 26 kilometres underground about 48 kilometres southeast of Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It pegs the magnitude at 4.8. Some social media users say on Twitter that they felt the shake as far away as Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo and Victoria. Friday's event comes after a sequence of eight earthquakes struck off the coast of Vancouver Island betw

With a second presumptive case of the novel coronavirus in Canada, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu says there is no reason for Canadians to be alarmed. Hajdu told the House of Commons that government agencies are ready to respond in case the situation worsens. A man in his 50s is now confirmed to have the virus. Test results are also due for his wife. She is quarantined at home in Toronto. He is in a special hospital room.

Two men have been charged with first-degree murder after an attack on a man last November in Surrey, B.C.The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Jordan Bottomley and Jagpal Hothi have appeared in provincial court in Surrey.The two men were arrested Friday and the B.C. Prosecution Service approved the charges related to the attack on 30 year old Andrew Baldwin.Police said at the time that Baldwin was found unresponsive, with critical injuries in a mainly industrial area of northwest Surrey. He was pronounced dead a short time later in hospital. Investigators have not released a possible