The agency responsible for approving and assessing energy development in Alberta is laying off staff as it deals with budget cuts.The Alberta Energy Regulator says it laid off ``a couple of dozen'' staff yesterday with more to come by the end of February.Gordon Lambert, interim CEO, says the changes are part of a restructuring that aims to make the regulator more effective, efficient, and resilient.Last October the government announced that the AER would lose about 22 percent of its operating budget.Lambert says while it is a difficult time for staff, the AER will continue to protect public s

British Columbia Premier John Horgan has made changes to his cabinet, filling a vacancy and swapping a few portfolios.Anne Kang has been appointed minister of citizens' services, replacing Jinny Sims, who resigned from her post last October amid an RCMP investigation into allegations that haven't been made public.Sims has said she is confident her name will be cleared.Michelle Mungall and Bruce Ralston have traded portfolios with some job exceptions.Mungall has been appointed the minister of jobs, economic development and competitiveness, which was formerly the cabinet post of minister of jobs

Chinese health authorities are urging people in the city of Wuhan to avoid crowds and public gatherings after warning that a new viral illness infecting hundreds of people in the country and causing at least 17 deaths could spread further. A national health official says 500 cases are confirmed in China. The 17 deaths are all in Hubei province, where the first cases were reported last month. The illness comes from a new coronavirus that experts say may be spread through the respiratory tract and may be mutating. An expert meeting convened by the World Health Organization on Wednesday will det

British Columbia's health minister and provincial health officer say officials are closely monitoring an international outbreak of respiratory illness linked to a novel coronavirus after a case was confirmed across the border in Washington state Tuesday. Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry say in a joint statement there have been no cases of illness caused by the coronavirus in Canada and the risk to British Columbians is considered low. However, they say health-care workers have been asked to be vigilant and take a travel history for anyone reporting respiratory symptoms following an out

A delegation of protestors, including elderly women from Shaheen Bagh area, which met Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal on Tuesday regard to their over month-long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) said they were not pressurised to meet anyone. An elderly woman, who was among the delegation said they will continue their protest and block roads on January 29 if the proposed CAA and NPR are taken forward by the government. Earlier today, Baijal called for maintaining peace and order and urged the protestors to call o

The R-C-M-P says the driver of a pickup truck was killed after hitting two transport trucks in separate collisions a kilometre apart east of Revelstoke. Police say the westbound pickup hit one tractor trailer last night on the TransCanada highway and was then involved in a head-on collision with another a short distance away. The pickup driver from Alberta was pronounced dead at the scene and the driver of the second transport was taken to hospital with serious neck and back injuries. The Mounties say alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

RCMP say a 13-year-old boy has been arrested for an alleged assault in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and they are asking the public to avoid making ``snap judgments'' about the case based on what's being said on social media. The teen was arrested after police say they received a call on Jan. 10 about an alleged assault on the grounds of Citadel Middle School. The RCMP say their initial investigation determined there was a ``verbal confrontation'' between four male and one female youths, which ``escalated when the girl used a low level of physical force.'' The Mounties say at that time, a 13-year-old

There will soon be a bit more breathing room for train passengers on the Canada Line between Richmond and Vancouver. TransLink announced that four new trains will be put into service today, increasing customer capacity by 15 per cent during the peak hours. It says the new trains will provide more space, frequency and comfort for the service that was popular when it opened a decade ago and has growing in ridership by 25 per cent since then. The addition is the first of 12 new trains being rolled out as part of the Mayors' 10-year transit expansion plan in Metro Vancouver.

Health officials in the United States say a Washington State man is the first person in the U-S to be diagnosed with a new coronavirus first identified in China. The man, in his 30's, is being treated in an Everett hospital, near Seattle and is said to be in good condition. He was travelling in the Wuhan area of China when the outbreak began, and returned to Washington State last week, where the virus was confirmed. Beijing says six people have died and 291 have been infected in China -- and cases of the pneumonia-like illness have been reported in four other countries prompting many airpo