The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show BC is holding its own as overall unemployment in the province dipped in January to 4.5 per cent from 4.8 the month earlier. Jobs Minister Michelle Mungall says in a statement that B-C continues to have the lowest unemployment of any province or territory and the data confirms the NDP government's approach toward building a stable economy. The jobless rate across Canada was also down slightly to 5.5 per cent, one-tenth of a point lower than its December setting. Number crunchers say strong performances from the manufacturing, construction and agri

A judge has ordered the Metro Vancouver city of Surrey to immediately stop ticketing and fining Uber drivers. The city had been issuing $500 tickets to drivers, arguing that they were operating without a business licence. However, Uber claimed in court that drivers held the appropriate provincial permits and Surrey had not created a municipal licence that its drivers could apply for. Uber filed for an injunction against Surrey and a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled in favour of the ride-hailing company. Justice Veronica Jackson also ordered that the city pay Uber's court costs. Surre

RCMP say they have a man in custody who was wanted in relation to a shooting that injured an innocent bystander in 2017.A 62 year old woman visiting Surrey from Ontario was injured in the incident that summer.Three men faced 15 charges after an RCMP investigation into the shooting led them to a significant seizure of evidence including almost $200,000 in cash and significant amounts of drugs and firearms.The Mounties say the first two men were arrested in December and January and they now also have 21-year-old Noah Didhra in custody.

The British Columbia government is moving to curtail lawyers and legal costs in the public auto insurance system by severely limiting injured people's ability to sue at-fault drivers or the auto insurer after a crash. The government says legislation will be introduced in the coming weeks that will lower premiums at the Insurance Corporation of B.C. by about 20 per cent, an average of $400 in savings per driver. At the same time, maximum care and treatment benefits for anyone injured in a crash would increase to at least $7.5 million, and those benefits will be available to every B.C. driver w

Victoria police say a woman is in custody after a break-and-enter call set off the evacuation of an apartment building and a four-hour standoff. Police say they were called to a business when an alarm was set off early this morning and officers spotted a woman leaving the scene over a rooftop. They say the woman then broke into a nearby apartment building, pulled the fire alarm, discharged an extinguisher and then barricaded herself inside a suite. When negotiations failed, police say officers used a loud distraction device to make the arrest and she now faces the possibility of multiple char

Two more presumptive cases of the novel coronavirus have been diagnosed in British Columbia. Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, says a man and woman, both visitors from China's Hubei province, have been confirmed to have the illness. Henry says the visitors are linked to a woman who was diagnosed earlier this week in the Vancouver area. She says officials are confident one of the newly diagnosed people is the source of the novel coronavirus in that household. Henry says that source is a young, healthy man who had a very mild illness and didn't seek medical attention. B.C. wi

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has rejected a request for an injunction against Uber and Lyft pending a legal challenge against the approval of ride-hailing services in Metro Vancouver. Justice Veronica Jackson says the Vancouver Taxi Association failed to establish that an independent regulator used an uneven playing field in allowing the two companies to operate as of Jan. 23. She says the association's argument over irreparable harm to the industry was ``scant at best'' and included anecdotal evidence from one taxi driver, without any details of how many hours he'd worked over six

Harry Bains, Minister of Labour, has appointed Amanda Rogers and Vince Ready as special mediators in the eight-month collective bargaining dispute between Western Forest Products and the United Steelworkers Local 1-1937."This dispute has taken a huge toll on workers and their families as well as the entire coastal forestry community.We want to see everyone get back on the job," Bains said."As Minister of Labour, I have decided to appoint special mediators Ready and Rogers with additional powers under the Labour Relations Code to help the parties reach an agreement as soon as possible."The par

A lawyer for Uber says the position of a British Columbia mayor opposed to ride-hailing is "unintelligible" considering drivers are being denied business licences and are then being fined $500 daily for operating without a licence.Michael Feder is asking a B.C. Supreme Court judge to issue an injunction prohibiting the City of Surrey from fining both drivers and the company, saying he has been receiving tickets from bylaw officers at his office.Feder told the court that Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum is "disingenuous" for saying he supports ride-hailing while maintaining he will neverallow the se