A B.C. Conservative private member's bill to classify publicly funded sports teams and events according to the "biological sex" of participants, banning transgender athletes, didn't make it out of the starting blocks. The Fairness in Women's and Girls' Sports Act was voted down at first reading, a fate that's a rarity in the legislature. The majority New Democrats, joined by two Green Party members and two Independents, voted down the proposed bill introduced by Conservative Leader John Rustad. New Democrat House Leader Ravi Kahlon said outside the legislature the proposed bill was "hateful an

London Drugs is investigating whether personal data was compromised in a cybersecurity incident that prompted the company to close all of its stores across Western Canada until further notice. A statement from the retailer and pharmacy chain says it will notify "affected individuals" if the probe finds their data was breached. The company says it's working with third-party cybersecurity experts to securely bring its operations back online after discovering the incident on Sunday. An earlier statement said there was no reason to believe customer or employee data had been affected by the inciden

British Columbia has secured eight new sites for its BC Builds program, in which land owned by the province, non-profits or community groups is pre-zoned to build middle-income rental housing. The new sites include three in the Township of Langley, one each in Kelowna and Kamloops, as well as properties in Sooke and Chemainus on Vancouver Island and Elkford in East Kootenay region. The province says it is now seeking proposals for all eight sites to "fast-track" rental homes, as BC Builds backs the projects with low-cost financing. B.C. Premier David Eby says the program's continued growth is

Punjabi superstar Diljit Dosanjh arrived in Vancouver yesterday to kick off his 'Dil Luminati Tour' at BC Place. This is the first time in history that a Punjabi singer superstar will perform in BC. Diljit's manager posted pictures and videos on Instagram yesterday confirming his arrival in Vancouver. BC Place will be the first stop on Diljit's schedule on Saturday. On Diljit's arrival in Vancouver, his fans say they are very excited about the show and are proud of their culture and being Punjabi. BC Place General Manager Chris May says that this is going to be the biggest show outside Punjab

An out-of-control wildfire in northeastern British Columbia has triggered the province's first evacuation of this year's fire season. The Peace River Regional District declared a state of local emergency and issued an evacuation order for an area near Chetwynd, B.C., last night. The 50-hectare Wildmare Creek fire has also prompted an evacuation alert covering homes directly west of the community, with the district saying there's "potential danger to life" and residents should be ready to leave on short notice. The Ministry of Transportation's DriveBC information service says a 10-kilometre str

The BC Wildfire Service has announced a five-month open fire ban covering much of the province's Interior, as fire season gets off to an early start. The ban on Category 3 fires in the Kamloops fire centre will run from May 3 to Oct. 11 and will prohibit people burning three or more fires on a property at the same time, or any single fire burning a pile larger than two metres in height or three metres in width. Grass burns bigger than 0.2 hectares will also be banned, the service says. Areas covered by the ban include the Lillooet, Kamloops, Merritt, Vernon and Penticton fire zones. Drought co

A man has been killed in a stabbing in White Rock, B.C., and police say there are "apparent similarities" to another knife attack in the same area two days earlier. RCMP say the latest incident happened late Tuesday, when a man was reported to have been stabbed near the White Rock Pier. Police say the victim died at the scene, and a search of the area did not turn up the suspect, who is described as a black male, five feet 11 inches tall, wearing a hat and a grey hoodie with the hood over the hat. The fatal stabbing follows an attack late Sunday also near White Rock Pier in which a person was

Police in British Columbia say United States authorities searching for a pair of missing kayakers have found a body in the San Juan Islands of Washington state. RCMP spokesman Cpl. James Grandy says searchers south of the border have not yet identified the person as one of the missing kayakers. Grandy says only one body has been located in the search. The Sidney/North Saanich RCMP has said two men went missing Saturday while kayaking between D'Arcy Island and Island View Beach, just north of Victoria. They said 36-year-old Daniel MacAlpine and twenty-six-year-old Nicholas West were in a teal b

A baby in a stroller survived being struck and dragged for two blocks while it was lodged in the front of a vehicle in Squamish, B.C. Mounties say they received multiple calls that a vehicle had hit a pedestrian pushing a baby in the stroller at a crosswalk Monday night. Investigators say the driver fled the scene in the vehicle but was found approximately two blocks away with the baby still inside the stroller, lodged into the front of the vehicle. Police say both the pedestrian and baby have non-life-threatening injuries and are receiving medical attention. The driver was arrested and police