The City of Surrey’s proposed Budget 2021 has set a general property tax increase of 2.9%, which is consistent with the rate that was set by Council in the two previous budgets. Despite the challenges that have been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Surrey’s Budget 2021 is balanced in accordance with the Local Government Act and the Community Charter. "It has been Council’s approach to manage our public dollars prudently and it is a testament to the economic strength of Surrey that we have been able to bring in a fully balanced budget that holds the line on property taxes. The rate se

A B.C. mom has given birth to her son while in a coma due to COVID-19. Dave McIntosh says his wife Gill's condition took a turn for the worse last week after her COVID-19 diagnosis. Dave says their son is in a neonatal intensive care unit but is healthy, while Gill remains in an induced coma and on a ventilator. He says BC residents need to start taking the COVID-19 virus more seriously, as it's not yet known how Gill contracted the virus.

Surrey's Cambridge Elementary School has been ordered to close until Nov 30 due to a COVID-19 outbreak. At least seven people have tested positive and the transmission is reported to have occured on the school premises. The school's music teacher is in the ICU. Additionally, two other schools in the Fraser Health region are voluntarily closing for two weeks due to staffing issues because of COVID-19 "clusters". These schools are: Jarvis Elementary in Delta (76 Ave & 118 St) Al-Hidayah School, an independent school in New Westminster.

British Columbia health officials are urging residents to celebrate Diwali virtually this year, as the province reports a new daily record number of COVID-19 cases. B.C. recorded 617 new cases on Friday, for a total of 20,985. Officials also reported two new COVID-19-related fatalities, bringing the province's death toll to 290 over the course of the pandemic. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement that the number of cases shows it is a critical time for B.C., and residents need to work together to slow the number of infections. They

A search has resumed for a Vancouver Island couple missing since Wednesday in a rugged area west of Nanaimo. Police say the search began Thursday for 32 year old Cody Martin, 29 year old Tamara Sandulak and Rex, their black lab-cross dog, when they didn't return from a day of fishing. An RCMP statement says dozens of search and rescue volunteers covered the Nanaimo Lakes area on foot and by all-terrain vehicle late into Thursday evening. More search and rescue crews from neighbouring communities joined the effort on Friday, while RCMP say air support will be added if weather permits. Police h

BC Hydro says an online survey shows many households are stocked up but unprepared to ride out a major winter storm. It found 20 per cent of homeowners believe they are prepared for an extended power outage because they laid in supplies such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer and groceries. But the utility points out that stockpiling toilet paper won't help when storms cut power and leave people without heat, light or the ability to cook food and keep it from rotting for several days. But the online survey of 803 B.C. residents conducted in early October says more than half lack an emergency ki

A new survey by Simon Fraser University and Autism Community Training suggests caregivers for kids with autism are feeling especially squeezed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey of 238 families between July and September showed one third reported safety concerns and almost 10 per cent had considered putting their child into government care. The majority of caregivers reported provincial supports in response to the pandemic have been insufficient in meeting their needs and their kids are suffering as a result. Just three families reported the pandemic has positively affected their ch

British Columbia's provincial health officer says contact tracers are ``stretched to the max'' and falling behind as they try to keep up with the province's growing COVID-19 infection rate. The latest modelling from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry came as B.C. surpassed 20,000 cases of COVID-19 with 1,130 new cases detected over two days and four more deaths. Dr. Henry says one infection can cause a cascade of trouble and used the example of a small wedding where 15 people became positive, 10 of those had additional household cases and one person spread it to a long-term care home

The company that operates nine casinos in BC, from Victoria, Nanaimo and Vancouver north to Dawson Creek, is defending its acceptance of a 3.3 billion dollar takeover by Apollo Global Management. Great Canadian Gaming, which also has holdings in Ontario and parts of the Maritimes, says Apollo has agreed to pay 39 dollars per share for the company, an offer that's roughly 35 per cent above Great Canadian's recent value. But many minority shareholders say they will vote against the deal, arguing it doesn't reflect the true value of the company, which some analysts have pegged as high as 1.1 bil