Extreme cold near the start of this year in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan has led to a damage bill that the Insurance Bureau of Canada says is more than $180 million. The bureau says about 70 per cent of the insurance claims related to the extreme cold were for personal property and damage caused by frozen and burst water pipes. The cold moved in Jan. 12, breaking dozens of daily minimum records, including in Edmonton where there were four straight days of cold ranging from minus 40 to minus 45 degrees. Rob de Pruis, the national director, consumer and industry relations with the

Whistler Blackcomb ski resort says a Vancouver woman has died in a "serious incident" over the weekend. The resort says in a statement that the 32-year-old woman died Saturday after becoming separated from her partner while visiting at the resort. It says the partner alerted the ski patrol, who found the woman unresponsive on the Renegade trail, described as an advanced trail. No other details have been released by the resort, and the RCMP in Whistler, B.C., did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Whistler Blackcomb COO Belinda Trembath says in the statement that the resort is off

Premier David Eby says the B.C. government has plans underway to build a new critical care tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital, adding capacity for surgical, pediatric, perinatal, women's health, mental health and stroke care. Eby says Surrey's health-care services need to grow along with its population. The premier says the province is at stage where it will soon start asking for feedback from health professionals who work at the hospital. The announcement comes after the B.C. government outlined 30 actions to improve access to health care for people in Surrey last June, a list that included re

Police in British Columbia say they've seized more than 27 tonnes of contraband cigarettes worth more than $24 million in a pair of investigations over the past year. Assistant RCMP Commissioner David Teboul says the investigations involved collaboration with tax fraud investigators from the B.C. Ministry of Finance, calling the seizures of 133,000 cartons of cigarettes a " major blow to numerous organized crime groups." Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the most recent raids in Mission and Maple Ridge on Feb. 28, involving 67,500 cartons, represent the largest one-time seizure of con

Former British Columbia cabinet minister Selina Robinson has quit the NDP, citing antisemitism in the ruling party's caucus. Robinson, who is Jewish, says she can no longer remain in the party because it is not properly addressing antisemitism in the province or among her former colleagues. Robinson told an impromptu news conference in a hallway of the B.C. legislature that she will now sit as an Independent. She resigned her cabinet post as minister of post-secondary education last month after saying modern Israel was founded on "a crappy piece of land." The Jan. 30 remarks sparked an outcry

British Columbia's government says it is setting 10-year targets to substantially reduce poverty in the province, with a focus on lifting children and seniors above the poverty line. Sheila Malcolmson, social development and poverty reduction minister, says legislation introduced today changes three laws to set higher targets to cut poverty, ease employment requirements for people on income and disability assistance and provide more supports. She says the legislation commits B.C. to cut overall poverty by 60 per cent over the next decade, including reducing child poverty by 75 per cent, and fo

Ronald McHaffie said he had big plans to build a ski resort near Hope, 150 km east of Vancouver, ahead of the 2010 Olympics. He cut an unlikely figure, with a Grizzly Adams beard and no history of resort development. Yet the Bigfoot Ski Resort's website was full of promises world-class skiing, a golf course, a fishing lodge and an "antique train" carrying guests around the facility. The website, which now exists in archived form, purported to show endorsements from all three levels of government, and a range of permits. McHaffie gathered $642,000 from dozens of investors, telling them construc

British Columbia's longtime Environment Minister George Heyman says he's decided not to run in this fall's provincial election. Seventy-four-year-old Heyman says in a social media post that serving the people of his Vancouver-Fairview riding since 2013 has been a great honour, but he won't seek re-election in October. He says he will endorse former Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer to seek the NDP nomination in his riding. Heyman is a three-term member of the legislature who introduced the NDP government's Clean BC climate and economic plan to reduce carbon emissions while developing a g

Six skiers have been rescued in two separate operations in the mountains in southwestern British Columbia. North Shore Rescue says on its Facebook page that five skiers were reported lost Sunday night by Whistler Search and Rescue, and a helicopter was used to help find and bring out them out. Rescuers say the lost skiers had to spend the night outside before they could get them out on Monday. In a separate operation by North Shore Rescue, a team went out late Sunday when a skier called in to report they were lost near Cypress Mountain. Rescuers say the man was found below the Howe Sound Crest