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

The legal battle over ride-hailing in Surrey intensified Monday as Uber asked the B.C. Supreme Court to block the city from ticketing its drivers, accusing Mayor Doug McCallum of blocking a provincially approved service through “unlawful” bylaw enforcement. Uber’s lawyer, Michael Feder, told the court that Surrey has been fining drivers $500 per day for operating without a city business licence, even though the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) authorized ride-hailing in Metro Vancouver nearly two weeks ago. “Drivers are being deterred from working under the threat of financial pena

Two people have been killed in a crash along Highway 5 north of Kamloops, B.C. Police say both occupants of a passenger vehicle died in a head-on collision with a transport truck on Wednesday. RCMP Traffic Services Cpl. Mike Halskov says the investigation into the cause of the crash is in its early stages but recent snow and road conditions are being considered as possible contributing factors. Halskov says Highway 5 remains closed in both directions as the investigation continues and drivers can monitor the DriveBC website for updates. Mounties are reminding people that road and weather cond

Talks that were meant to de-escalate a dispute over a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia have ended early, with one hereditary chief saying he fears RCMP enforcement of an injunction is imminent. The talks are between the provincial government and the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en nation. Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser says the meetings were respectful but he couldn't tell the chiefs that the BC government would pull the approvals it gave to the project.

RCMP confirm the body of a third man has been pulled from a river on southern Vancouver Island, west of Victoria. A statement from Staff Sgt. Brett Sinden says the body was recovered Tuesday afternoon along the banks of the Sooke River. Sinden says criminality is not suspected.Three 20-year-old men, identified by police last week as Cory Mills, Eric Blackmore and AJ Jensen, set out Friday night from a home in the community of Sooke during a torrential rainstorm that led to flood warnings and watches over several parts of Vancouver Island.The truck carrying the trio was found battered and empt