The annual flu vaccination campaign has begun as officials in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities remind residents across BC that a flu shot is especially important this year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Fraser Health launched its campaign today while Vancouver Coastal says clinics will open later this month and shots are available through some family doctors, many local pharmacists, walk-in clinics and at public health influenza clinics. Locations of all BC clinics or pharmacies where the vaccine is available are listed on the Immunize BC (dot) ca website under ``find

Environment Canada says as much as 20 centimetres of snow could blanket parts of eastern BC by this afternoon and it warns of potentially hazardous conditions, especially through mountain passes. Snowfall warnings cover higher elevations of the Shuswap, Columbia, Yoho, Yellowhead and Kinbasket regions north to the Peace River area, although the northern edge of the system is easing and only another five centimetres is expected around Tumbler Ridge and the Yellowhead Pass. The weather office says snow should change to rain and then taper off this evening, and it says heavy rain that drenched t

The more than 700,000 people who have asked for a vote-by-mail package in British Columbia's election should get their ballots into the post. Saturday is the deadline recommended by Elections BC because the ballots must be received no later than 8 p.m. on election day, Oct. 24. Those who don't mail in their votes in time can drop off the completed package in person at district electoral offices, voting places and some Service BC locations. Information on the Elections BC website shows about 25 per cent of the 717,000 ballots sent out have been returned. The mail-out ballots requested for the

The BC Green party says it has set the record for its best fundraising month ever and October is only half over. A statement from the party says between October first and the 15th, just over 441-thousand dollars has been raised, about two-thousand dollars more than the previous record set in April 2017, during the last provincial election. More than 100-thousand dollars of the newly raised funds has come in since Tuesday, when Leader Sonia Furstenau represented the Greens at the televised leaders' debate. The party says another record has also been shattered because donors have already contri

British Columbia's election campaign continues today after a turbulent day for the Liberals.The B.C. Liberals announced Thursday that Laurie Throness would not be representing the party in Chilliwack-Kent after making comments at an all-candidates meeting comparing free birth control to eugenics. Throness has been a member of the legislature since 2013, and his name and party affiliation will remain on the ballot for the Oct. 24 election.The campaign saw NDP Leader John Horgan and Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson take verbal shots at each over in a radio debate on Thursday, as each criticized

B.C. has recorded its first confirmed case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in a child after antibody testing showed evidence of COVID-19. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the child, who is under the age of five, has since recovered. She made the announcement while reporting 142 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths at a briefing on Thursday. Dr. Henry says 16 children have been investigated for the syndrome in B.C. so far, but until now, none had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The syndrome is associated mostly in children and symptoms include inflammat

Several businesses on Vancouver's west side have been severely damaged in an overnight fire. Flames broke out at about 2 a.m. in an older building (on Cambie Street, just north of 25th Avenue) and quickly swept through as many as five shops, including a cafe, dry cleaner and possibly a pharmacy and pet-boarding facility. Firefighters rescued several cats from the pet business and worked past dawn to keep the flames from jumping concrete walls protecting a newer building to the north and several smaller shops on the south side. No one has been hurt, a cause of the blaze is under investigation,

Advance polling has started in BC for the provincial elections. Elections BC says almost 139-thousand vote-by-mail packages had been returned as of Tuesday. That's about 20 per cent of the estimated 699-thousand voters who asked for mail-in ballots. All three main parties in the BC election have now released platforms outlining their promises if elected on October 24th. The Greens unveiled their platform on Wednesday, with Sonia Furstenau promising a stronger, more equitable and sustainable province. Part of the platform includes bolstering income security with a move towards a basic income p

The number of active cases of COVID-19 has ticked up to just under 1,500 as B.C. reports 158 new cases on Wednesday. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and deputy health minister Stephen Brown say in a joint news release that 84 people are in hospital, including 24 in intensive care. They say no one else has died from the illness since the province's last update, leaving the death toll at 250. The outbreak at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver is now over, while outbreaks are ongoing at two other acute care facilities and 17 assisted living or long-term care homes. More than 3,600 peopl