A new report from BC Hydro says a concerning trend is emerging as British Columbians seek relief from COVID-19 restrictions by sprucing up the yards around their homes. The Crown utility says electrical contact incidents involving weekend tree trimmers, gardeners and landscapers have soared 30 per cent since the pandemic hit last March. The report says tree trimming is the most common offence as novice pruners drop branches across power lines, frequently causing outages. More than 100 reports linked to what BC Hydro calls ``backyard logging'' have been received since March 2020, but the utili

Statistics Canada says the economy lost 207,000 jobs in April as a new rise in COVID-19 cases led to renewed public health restrictions that closed businesses. The unemployment rate rose to 8.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent in March. Statistics Canada says the number of employed people in April working less than half their usual hours increased by 288,000 or 27.2 per cent. The losses in April nearly wiped out the 303,000 jobs added in March when the economy outpaced expectations and put the country about half a million jobs below pre-pandemic levels. More losses were seen in full-time work than

Canada's expert panel on vaccines upset numerous doctors and health professionals this week when they expressed a preference for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. But a new survey from Proof Strategies suggests lots of Canadians feel the same. More than eight in 10 people say that vaccines are safe and effective when asked specifically about Pfizer-BioNTech, and almost as many for Moderna. But trust falls to under 50 per cent for both Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Proof President Bruce MacLellan says weeks of warnings about a new and rare blood clotting syndrome have clearly taken

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar questioned the safety of common people in West Bengal after the attack on the convoy of Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan who was visiting Paschim Medinipur after post-poll violence was reported in several parts of the state. "If a minister's convoy can be attacked, then, who is safe in Bengal? This is state-sponsored violence. We condemn violence in Bengal. Special measures should be taken to bring the culprits to justice," said Union Minister Javadekar.

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, in its parliamentary party meeting on Friday, demanded an all-party meeting and a meeting of Parliament Standing Committee on Health regarding the COVID-19 situation in the country.The meeting is being held under the chairmanship of Gandhi through video conferencing.According to sources, the meeting started with paying tribute to all former Members of Parliament (MPs), including former President Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Tarun Gogoi, who have recently passed away.Earlier, the Congress President had written a letter to Prime Minister N

Grocery workers aged 18 and up are now eligible to register for a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine in British Columbia's largest health region. Fraser Health says all workers, whether they are unionized or not, will get information from their employers on how to register and book appointments online, as well as an access code. Staff must provide identification and proof of employment, such as a pay stub or work identification, when they arrive for an appointment. Supplies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were quickly snapped up last month when the province lowered the eligibility age for th

A woman in BC has been hospitalized with a rare blood clot associated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the first such reaction reported in the province. Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry says the woman contacted her family doctor when she had symptoms five or six days after being vaccinated. Dr. Henry urged people to be alert to the symptoms, which range from a persistent and severe headache to difficulty moving parts of your body, and back, or chest or abdominal pain. However, she also defended the vaccine, saying AstraZeneca has played an important role in BC's immunization

At approximately 1 p.m. on May 5th, Richmond RCMP responded to a report of an industrial accident in the 3900 block of Boundary Road. A 25 year-old female employee was subsequently transported to hospital by Emergency Health Services, but she later succumbed to her injuries. Next-of-kin notification has been completed, however, the victim’s name is not being released at this time out of respect for the family. Investigators from the Richmond RCMP Serious Crime Unit and WorkSafeBC continue to investigate.The BC Coroners Service has also been notified.

The British Columbia government says it is looking into creating a law that would allow action against so-called revenge porn, the posting of intimate images without a person's consent. The publication of the images is already an offence under the Criminal Code, but the government says provincial legislation could help people better protect themselves or ask for recourse. The government says in a statement that a national hotline reported a 58 per cent increase in the non-consensual sharing of intimate images by the start of 2021, compared with the nine-month period before April 1 last year.