Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says a suite of pandemic aid programs for businesses and individuals will come to an end on Saturday as scheduled. In their place -- she has announced more direct subsidies to still-hurting sectors of the economy. Freeland says the support now needs to be more narrow, more targeted, and less expensiveFreeland says the government estimates the total cost of the new benefits from October 24th through to May 7th of next year will be 7.4-billion dollars. She says that compares to 289-billion spent on income and business supports since the start of the pandemic.

Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable SR Khandekar saved a pregnant woman passenger from falling under the train. The woman was about to fall into the gap between platform and train while she was deboarding the running train. The incident happened at Kalyan station in Mumbai on October 17.

B.C. is reporting 696 new cases of COVID-19, including eight epi-linked cases, for a total of 199,534 cases in the province.There are 4,888 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 192,189 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 370 individuals are in hospital and 139 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. In the past 24 hours, six new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,092.The new deaths include: Fraser Health: fiveVancouver Coastal Health: one There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at S

There could be a major breakthrough in the search for Brian Laundrie as the effort continues for clues in the slaying of his girlfriend. There are new developments in the search for a man whose girlfriend was found dead in Wyoming last month. Brian Laundrie is a person of interest in the death of Gabby Petito, and is wanted for misuse of a debit card. FBI agent Michael McPherson gave an update on the manhunt outside a wildlife park in North Port, Florida.Police say human remains have been found in water near a Florida park along with items thought to be linked to Laundrie, who was reported mi

Charges against two men have been approved by BC Prosecution Services following a Vancouver Police project to target offenders responsible for catalytic converter thefts."Catalytic converter thefts have become an ongoing problem in Vancouver, costing car owners thousands of dollars in repairs," says Constable Tania Visintin, VPD. "Over the last seven days, there were 18 reported catalytic converter thefts in Vancouver alone."Beginning in July, VPD’s Property Crime Unit launched a project into two prolific catalytic converter theft suspects who they believed were responsible for numerous repo

A Calgary man charged following two downtown machete attacks has been found fit to stand trial. Conner Dery, who is 25, is charged with aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon in the attacks last week at a light-rail transit platform and a nearby bus shelter.Police say the attacks appeared to be random and two people were sent to hospital. Police have confirmed that Dery is the son of a Calgary Police Service officer who recognized his son on CCTV footage and notified investigators.Dery was in court this morning and a psychiatrist found that, despite having suffered a brain injury w

Premier Jason Kenney says a Calgary city councillor should resign if allegations of sexual impropriety are true. Sean Chu was re-elected on Monday in the municipal vote.Chu was never charged with a criminal offence. He was found guilty of discreditable conduct by the Law Enforcement Review Board for touching a 16-year-old girl's leg when he worked as a Calgary police officer in 1997. Chu could not immediately be reached for comment.

Statistics Canada says the cost of living just keeps climbing, with the annual inflation rate reaching 4.4 per cent in September, up three-tenths of a point from its August setting. Economists say the 4.4 per cent jump since September of last year has pushed inflation to its highest level since February 2003, with soaring gas prices and a rebound from last year's pandemic lows blamed for a hefty chunk of the increase. Year-over-year inflation in BC was a little more modest as Stats Can says the September rate in the province didn't budge from its 3.5 per cent setting. Prices in Vancouver edge

Vancouver Police are investigating after two replica pipe bombs were found inside toilets at a safe injection site on the Downtown Eastside."Pipe bombs are extremely dangerous. They can eject pieces of shrapnel in all directions causing serious injuries or death," says Constable Tania Visintin. "At a glance, replica pipe bombs can appear very real. As such, we take these calls very seriously and must investigate them thoroughly."On October 16 just before 3 p.m., cleaning staff at the safe injection site near Pender and Abbott streets found what are now known as two replica pipe bombs inside th