British Columbia Premier David Eby has announced his government has committed to earlier and enhanced pensions for wildland firefighters, saying the province owes them a "deep debt of gratitude" for their efforts in battling recent fire seasons. Eby says in a statement the province and the BC General Employees' Union have reached an agreement-in-principle to "enhance" pensions for firefighting personnel employed directly by the BC Wildfire Service. It says the change will give wildland firefighters provisions like those in other public-safety careers such as ambulance paramedics and correction

British Columbia's premier says the province will be opening secure facilities to provide involuntary care under the Mental Health Act for people with severe addictions. David Eby says the first site, which will also provide care for people with mental illness and brain injuries, will open in Maple Ridge on the grounds of the Alouette Correctional Centre "in the coming months" with plans to expand throughout the province The premier's promise comes a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign and three months after he appointed Dr. Daniel Vigo is B.C.'s first chief sci

The northern British Columbia coast was rattled by two earthquakes below the ocean floor on Sunday. Natural Resources Canada said the first quake hit at 3:20 p.m. and measured 6, while the second came about an hour later and measured 4.5.It says no damage was reported and none would be expected. The U.S. Geological Survey set the magnitude of the quake at 6.5, and says it was centred at about the midway point between Haida Gwaii and Port McNeill on the northern end of Vancouver Island. The American Tsunami warning centre said no tsunami was expected to be generated. Ben Wilson, the food and b

The British Columbia government says it is taking steps to ensure tree fruit growers are compensated for past harvests after the closure of a co-operative that had served farmers for almost 90 years. It says the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC is "redirecting" about $4 million in provincial funding that will be used to ensure co-op members receive money they are owed. The province says the foundation will pay growers in the coming weeks and then recoup the funds at the end of the court process involving the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative that filed for creditor protection last month. In Ju

British Columbia Premier David Eby says his government would end the carbon tax on consumers if the federal government removed the legal requirement. Eby says B.C. residents are struggling with affordability, but the government would still ensure that big polluters pay a price for carbon to take action on climate change.

British Columbia's Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for "deficiencies" in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province. The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate. It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023. The office says that the latest financial penalties

Mounties in British Columbia say there's no evidence that the devastating fire that swept through the community of Lytton more than three years ago was arson. Police have concluded their investigation into the June 2021 wildfire, saying they can't pinpoint the cause of the blaze that killed two people and wiped out much of the village and part of the First Nation, a day after a Canadian temperature record of 49.6 C was set in Lytton. A statement from the RCMP says there is "no evidence to suggest the fire was intentionally set by the actions, or inactions, of any individual(s)" and the crimina

Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week. No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night. About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Kane Carter, who was accused of murdering a gang member and an innocent teenager who was passing by in his parents' vehicle. The jury came back Tuesday saying it was deadlocked after five days of deliberations in Carter's trial. He was charged with the second-degree murders of 15-year-old Alfred Wong and 23-year-old Kevin Whiteside after they were killed in an exchange of gunfire along Vancouver's busy Broadway avenue in January 2018. The Crown told the jury that Carter was protecting a gang associate at a nearby res