BCNov 20, 2023
Mayor of Surrey, B.C., announces constitutional challenge over policing
The mayor of Surrey, B.C., says the city will mount a constitutional challenge to the province's appointment of an administrator to take over the police board and oversee the transition to a municipal police force.Brenda Locke, who opposes the transition, says an amended court petition will be filed today, after the city already requested a judicial review of the province's directive to proceed with the switch away from the RCMP.Locke says the city will not approve any transition if it is unaffordable to taxpayers and the province has no right to run "roughshod" over any municipal government "
BCNov 17, 2023
Here's the truth about plane wreckage found near Kamloops
Plane wreckage that made headlines this week when officials announced a hunter had stumbled on what police thought was a decades-old crash site in the B.C. Interior was actually placed there deliberately for training purposes.A notice posted Tuesday on the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System says the RCMP inspected the site north of Kamloops and "verified" the wreckage was at least 20 to 25 years old, and it carried no registration or identifying marks.But Fred Carey, executive director with volunteer air safety group PEP-Air, says their group planted the fuselage there two years
BCNov 17, 2023
Number of Covid-19 patients in BC hospitals rises
New data suggest that COVID-19 activity in British Columbia is trending downward, while influenza and RSV are on the rise. A weekly update provided Thursday by the BC Centre for Disease Control says COVID-19 cases, new hospitalizations and deaths are all declining from a peak in the first week of October.It says there were 25 deaths of patients with COVID last week, down from 70 three weeks earlier. But the number of people in hospital with COVID-19, including new and previous admissions, has risen to 263 as of Thursday.The CDC says Influenza A is behind a rise in flu activity, accounting for
BCNov 17, 2023
BC government suspends Surrey Police Board, appoints new administrator
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says the provincial government has orchestrated a policing takeover in the city by suspending the current police board.Solicitor General Mike Farnworth suspended the board Thursday and installed former Abbotsford police chief Mike Serr as temporary administrator to lead the transition.Locke says the move was done without any consultation with the city and removes civilian oversight of policing in Surrey as the plan to replace the RCMP with a municipal force moves forward.Locke says the province is forcing the city to go ahead with the costly transition, while taking o
BCNov 16, 2023
Surrey to have 843 rental homes built at a cost of $319.5 million
The Government of Canada has announced spending $319.5 million to develop 843 rental homes in Surrey.With the help of the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, the government will increase the supply of new rental developments to address the housing crisis.The announcement was made by Diversity Minister Kamal Khera, Housing Minister Sean Fraser, Surrey MP Randeep Sarai, Housing Minister and Chief Financial Officer at 9656 King George Avenue in Surrey.The building will have 392 units and will feature a 6-storey podium in front of the Surrey Medical Building.The residential building will be
BCNov 15, 2023
Trudeau surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters at Vancouver restaurant
Vancouver police say 100 officers were sent to a restaurant where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was dining last night, after it was surrounded by protesters chanting for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.Police say one man was arrested for assaulting an officer, and another for obstruction, while social media videos showed protesters waving Palestinian flags, shouting slogans and jeering Trudeau outside the restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown.Sgt. Steve Addison says the officers were sent to control the crowd so Trudeau could leave the restaurant just before 10 p.m.Addison says a 27-year-old
BCNov 15, 2023
Historic wreckage of plane discovered near Kamloops: Transportation Safety Board
The wreckage of a plane that authorities believe is decades old has been found south of Kamloops, B.C.The Transportation Safety Board says in a statement that it was made aware of the wreck and investigators have been in contact with Kamloops RCMP.It says it hasn't identified which aircraft was involved in the crash.A notice on the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System says a hunter reached out to the Kamloops flight information centre after finding the downed aircraft.The notice says RCMP responded and verified the wreckage was at least 20 to 25 years old.It says there was no regis
BCNov 14, 2023
Sex offender Randall Hopley arrested by Vancouver police
Police say high-risk sex offender Randall Hopley has been arrested in Vancouver.A statement from police says Hopley was picked up at about 6 a.m. on the city's Downtown Eastside and he is in custody.The arrest ends a 10-day search for Hopley, who walked away from his Vancouver halfway house on Nov. 4., and cut off his electronic monitoring device a short time later.At the time, police said they believed the 58-year-old was worried about an upcoming court appearance and feared he would be returned to custody.Hopley had completed a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old
BCNov 09, 2023
BC Green Party removes Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi for liking 'unacceptable' social media post
Inappropriate social media activity has cost Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi his job as deputy leader of the BC Green Party and he's also resigned as a Green candidate in the 2024 provincial election.An online message posted Wednesday by BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says Gandhi was removed when she learned the details.Furstenau says Gandhi "liked a tweet with an inappropriate comparison" between provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Josef Mengele, an infamous Nazi doctor who experimented on concentration camp victims during the Second World War.Furstenau calls Gandhi's actions "unacceptable" and