Western Forest Products says a tentative agreement has been reached with the United Steelworkers union to end a strike that began at the company's Vancouver Island operations just over seven months ago.A statement released by the company says the deal still needs ratification, but the union's bargaining committee has advised it will be recommending acceptance.About 3,000 employees and contractors at Western Forest Products facilities in several Vancouver Island communities have been off the job since July 1. Mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers were working with the two sides, but booked o

Police made 33 arrests at the Port of Vancouver at Hastings and Clark streets Monday as they enforced an injunction against protesters blocking access to the site. The stage is set for a possible confrontation between police and anti-pipeline protesters blocking access to four ports in the Vancouver area. Yesterday the protesters were served with a court injunction ordering them to stop blocking access to four ports in the Vancouver area or face arrest but the protesters say they intend to stand their ground. The protesters are acting in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, who are

BC's health minister and the provincial health officer have issued a joint statement over the coronavirus calling for tolerance and saying British Columbians need to come together in this time of uncertainty. The virus has killed or sickened thousands in China and Adrian Dix and Doctor Bonnie Henry ask that anyone who is concerned they may have been exposed to the virus to isolate themselves for 14 days. Two planes loaded with passengers from Wuhan, China, stopped at Vancouver's airport overnight, but Henry and Dix say no passengers or crew remained in BC and they're now in quarantine at Cana

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