Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Canadians to celebrate new year while following the public health guidelines. PM Trudeau on Twitter: I know tomorrow’s a big day. We’re ready for the year to end, and we’re used to celebrating that with a bunch of our friends and family members. But just like we did last year, we’re going to have to switch things up - for our own safety, and for the safety of our loved ones. However you choose to celebrate tomorrow night, please, make sure you’re following the public health guidelines in your area. If we all do our part, we’ll be able to look

Ontario is reporting a record-breaking 13-thousand, 807 new COVID-19 infections and three more deaths.There are now 965 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including 200 in intensive care.Chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore has a news conference planned for this afternoon as parents wait to find out if their children are going back to classes next week.Some provinces are extending the winter break, while others are switching to virtual learning starting next week.

The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein. The verdict announced Wednesday capped a monthlong trial featuring accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14. Jurors deliberated for five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of every count except one. She faces years in prison. It's an end long sought by women who spent years fighting to hold Maxwell accountable for abusing them. Her lawyers said she's being used as a scapegoat for crimes committed by Epstein, who killed himself in 2

British Columbia is delaying the full return to classrooms in January to allow public health officials to assess the impact of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and give school staff time to implement enhanced safety measures. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says staff and students whose parents are health workers, as well as those who need extra support, will return to schools Jan. 3 or 4. All other students will return to classrooms Jan. 10. Whiteside says enhanced safety measures will include the cancellation of extracurricular sports and plans to control crowding at schools, such as thro

The world junior men's hockey championship in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., was cancelled Wednesday in the face of lost games due to COVID-19. A third game forfeited in two days left the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada and organizing committee with few options to continue a tournament with competitive integrity, and they opted to call off the 11-day, 10-country tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta. After two days of games, players testing positive for COVID-19 had put defending champion United States, Russia and Czechia into mandatory quarantines by Wednesday. Canada w

Mounties are on the scene of a train derailment in southern Alberta. They say the Canadian Pacific Rail train had an engine derail at 9:30 am and some empty fuel cars tipped over near Barons north of Lethbridge. Some diesel is spilling out. No injuries have been reported. Crews are clearing the scene of a train derailment near a small village in Saskatchewan. Canadian Pacific Railway says in a statement that a freight train carrying potash went off the tracks last night near Craven, which is about 38 kilometres northwest of Regina. The company says there were no injuries or public safety conc

Canada's two most-populous provinces are again smashing daily COVID-19 records. Ontario has surpassed its previous one-day record set Christmas Day with 10,436 new COVID-19 cases. Quebec is reporting more than 13,000 new infections. As cases threaten to overwhelm Quebec's health-care system, unions say a plan to permit some asymptomatic staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 to stay on the job is too risky. Meanwhile, Nunavut's premier says a ban on indoor gatherings is being extended to January 17th as a result of the rising case counts of the Omicron variant. The territory now has 74 C

The Kelowna RCMP Drugs and Organized Crime Section have arrested two men for selling drugs to teens.Over the past year, the Kelowna RCMP has received numerous complaints about a male suspect selling psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD and cannabis to teens in Kelowna. Through investigation, the police identified two male suspects who were selling the substances throughout Kelowna. The teens would contact the suspects through text message and receive a menu for the illegal substances. They would then arrange to meet with the suspects at various locations.On December 9, 2021, the Kelowna RCMP Drug

The British Columbia Teachers Federation wants the province to delay the start of the winter term in public schools across B.C. as cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 mount. Several social media messages posted by the BCTF and retweeted by union president Teri Mooring say provincial and district officials ``need to do much more'' if they intend to keep schools open in January. The messages list eight expectations to safely reopen schools. Recommendations include: free N-95 masks and rapid tests in all schools; staggered class, recess and lunch times; and, ramped up testing and vaccinatio