Greater Vancouver Realtors says last month's home sales in the region dropped five per cent from a year ago, even as the number of new listings jumped 20 per cent. The real estate body says sales in the market totalled 2,333 last month, while new listings reached 5,597. The composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver was about $1.2 million. That's both a 0.8 per cent decrease from last July 2023 and from June 2024. Greater Vancouver Realtors' director of economics and data analytics says the numbers indicate the buyer hesitance that materialized months ago conti

Police in British Columbia's Lower Mainland say a yearslong drug-trafficking investigation has led to charges against eight people, as well as the seizure of illicit drugs, drug-making supplies, and two guns with prohibited magazines. A statement from B.C.'s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says the investigation began in Langley in December 2022 and expanded as investigators determined the suspects were connected to "gang and organized crime activity." Police say the probe led to the execution of 10 search warrants in Richmond, Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley between April and May last

A wildfire rampaging through Jasper National Park remains out of control as crews work to reduce the risk of it spreading. Parks Canada says sprinklers have been installed on some buildings north of the park's townsite, as fire activity is expected to increase. Power has been restored to the downtown and crews are working to clean up debris. Highway 16 is now open to trucks, tractors and trailers during certain hours of the day. Thousands of people fled the town and park last week due to the fire, which eventually spread into the community and destroyed one-third of its buildings. Parks Canada

British Columbia's Ministry of Land and Water says personnel are conducting assessments near a landslide that blocked the Chilcotin River in the province's Interior, including to understand risks that might exist downstream. A government statement says the landslide Wednesday blocked the river that feeds into the Fraser River, and a sudden release of water "may cause rapid rises in river levels downstream along the Fraser River" south to Hope, B.C. The River Forecast Centre has issued a flood warning for the Chilcotin River upstream of the landslide and a flood watch downstream. A flood watch

British Columbia's Opposition BC United says it wants to include the party's previous Liberal name on the fall election ballot after internal polling shows up to 30 per cent of people didn't know the party changed its name. BC United communications director Adam Wilson says the party is preparing to formally apply to Elections BC to have a phrase acknowledging that it was formally known as the B.C. Liberals included on the ballot for the election this fall. BC United changed its name from the B.C. Liberals in April 2023 in a membership vote after Leader Kevin Falcon said a name change would fu

The Transportation Safety Board will release its report today on the fire and loss of more than 100 containers from a cargo ship off British Columbia's coast. The containers fell off MV Zim Kingston in October 2021 as it sat off the west coast of Vancouver Island and a storm blew in, bringing strong winds. The Kingston moved to the waters off Victoria, then days later fire erupted in one of the containers and spread on the ship, taking several days to put out. Just four of the 109 containers that tumbled from the ship were found, although debris, ranging from refrigerators to blow-up unicorns,

Police say two people are dead after an amateur-built plane crashed north of the Merritt, B.C. airport, about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. Merritt RCMP say emergency personnel responded to a report of the crash on Sunday evening and found the pilot and passenger had died. The Mounties describe the two-seat aircraft as being "homebuilt" and "amphibious." The say the plane was two kilometres from the airport when it went down east of Highway 5A. The Transportation Safety Board said it would deploy a team of investigators to look into the crash. The board says the plane was a Coot A amp

A small town in the B.C. interior has been evacuated due to wildfires raging nearby. The Regional District of Central Kootenay issued a statement Saturday night issued an evacuation order for the village of Slocan. The evacuation order also applies to over 400 properties in the areas around the village, a community about 370 kilometres east of Kelowna. Several fires are burning out of control in the area, including the Komonko Creek and Aylwin Creek wildfire. Both blazes total over 29 square kilometres. There are 372 wildfires burning in British Columbia as of Sunday morning, 177 of which the

British Columbia's top doctor says she is ending the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says any remaining restrictions, including the vaccination requirement for health-care workers, are being rescinded. Henry says after reviewing all the data she is confident the province has reached the point where there is no longer a need for the public health emergency and all requirements that remain can be lifted. She says wastewater indicators and testing data show COVID-19 has levelled off and the number of p