A dispute between the City of Surrey and the Surrey Police Union has escalated after the city refused to pay salaries for newly recruited officers, citing budget overruns. Union spokesperson Ryan Buehring said members were shocked to learn just before Christmas that the city would not add recruits to its payroll. “These officers joined in good faith, and to be told days before the holidays that they would not be paid is unacceptable,” Buehring told Connect Newsroom. The city confirmed it sent a letter on December 19 advising the Surrey Police Service that additional hires should not have b

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is visiting Kyiv on Friday to announce a new package of support, including an increase in military funding, a statement from his office said. Sunak is expected to announce an increase in military funding for Ukraine for the next financial year to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion), the statement said.

The Surrey RCMP Gang Enforcement Team has launched a new campaign aimed at steering children and teenagers away from gangs, with videos set to be shown in schools across the district starting this week. The video features Eileen Mohan, whose son was killed in the Surrey Six massacre, alongside a convicted murderer who reflects on his own role in gang life. Police say the contrasting stories are intended to highlight the devastating consequences of gang involvement for both victims’ families and offenders. Inspector Ryan Element said the goal is to deliver a message that resonates with youth.

Hospitals across Canada are facing a crisis due to overcrowding. According to the Canadian Medical Association, despite the tireless efforts of doctors, nurses and other providers, patients in some areas are waiting 20 hours or more for treatment. The association has requested the help of the provincial governments to deal with the situation. Kathleen Ross, president of the medical association, said that the number of patients with influenza, Covid and respiratory viruses are on the rise, while access to high-quality primary care is low and hospital emergency rooms are becoming overcrowded du

Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria, and the Fraser Valley are expecting frigid wind chills to arrive tonight, joining much of the rest of Western and Northern Canada under various cold weather warnings. Environment Canada says Arctic air combined with strong winds gusting to 60 km/h in the region will generate wind chill values that feel like -20 until at least Saturday. Extreme cold warnings remain in place for parts of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, B.C., northern Saskatchewan, and all of Alberta. Communities have been grappling with bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills that feel as

Federal public servants warned the government two years ago that large increases to immigration could affect housing affordability and services, internal documents show. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada analyzed the potential effects immigration would have on the economy, housing and services, as it prepared its immigration targets for 2023 to 2025. The deputy minister, among others, was warned in 2022 that housing construction had not kept up with the pace of population growth. "In Canada, popul

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is running apart from the Congress party line in Punjab, has announced another rally. Navjot Sidhu is now going to hold the fourth rally on January 21 in Moga. In the poster released for the rally, space has also been given to Raja Waring, but he is not reaching the rally. This round of Sidhu's rallies is at a time when the current president Raja Waring has repeatedly warned Sidhu of action on the pretext of violating party discipline. On the other hand, former president Sidhu says that he is working to strengthen the Congress party. He said that he will go to every p

The federal Conservatives are asking the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner to probe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vacation in Jamaica and how his staff handled the detail that he stayed for free. Conservative MP and ethics critic Michael Barrett sent a letter to Konrad von Finckenstein on Tuesday asking whether he knew Trudeau was staying at a luxury estate owned by a family friend. Barrett says the vacation is "not the equivalent of staying at a friend's home" calling it instead a gift with commercial value. The Canadian Press has not independently verified a National Post report

Amalija Knavs, the mother of former first lady Melania Trump, has died. Trump announced the death late Tuesday without disclosing the cause. Melania Trump sponsored her parents' immigration to the United States, and they took the oath of office to become citizens at a New York City courthouse in 2018. The Slovenian immigrants, a former car dealer and textile factory worker, had been living in the U.S. as permanent residents.