A union representing more than 180 transit workers in B.C. has issued a 72-hour strike notice.CUPE Local 4500 represents workers employed by the Coast Mountain Bus Company, which runs transit operations for all of Metro Vancouver. The notice is effective at 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The union says it is still available to negotiate a collective agreement that avoids service disruptions.It says job action could begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday with an overtime ban that would affect all operations in the Coast Mountain system. The union says the last collective agreement expired at the end of 2

One person died and a several more were hurt after fire ripped through a home in South Surrey on New Year’s Day. Surrey RCMP says it received reports of a fire at a home near the corner of 144 Street and 26 Avenue around 6:45 a.m. Surrey Fire Services (SFS) has confirmed firefighters rescued three people off a balcony. One person, believed to be an elderly individual, was found dead inside the home.SFS says 10 people were treated on scene and six were taken to hospital for minor injuries or smoke inhalation. RCMP and SFS are still trying to determine the cause of the fire and are canvassing

British Columbia's abnormally warm winter has left local ski resorts grappling with a lack of snow during the holiday tourism season, as resorts struggle to keep runs open. Fewer than half of Whistler Blackcomb's trails are open, while Vancouver's Mount Seymour is closed entirely while it waits for better conditions. Warmth related to the El Nino climate phenomenon this week has pushed temperatures to record highs in regions including Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria, the Sunshine Coast and the Okanagan. In Whistler, 120 kilometres north of Vancouver, Environment Canada was reporting no sno

Unseasonably warm weather has broken temperature records in southern British Columbia, including century-old marks in the provincial capital.Multiple records fell on Wednesday at weather stations throughout Greater Victoria, where a high of 12.9 degrees surpassed a record set in 1922.Environment Canada says high temperature marks were also broken in West Vancouver, where the mercury hit 14 degrees and shattered a 1986 high by 2.5 degrees, and White Rock where the high of 13.5 degrees broke a record standing for 88 years.Records were also set in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast, with 13.7 degrees,

The union representing some transit employees in British Columbia's Lower Mainland says disruptions could happen in January after members voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike mandate earlier this month. CUPE Local 4500, which represents more than 180 workers employed by the Coast Mountain Bus Company, says it kept the results of the Dec. 12 vote quiet until now “to avoid needless concern” about holiday season disruptions. President Chris Gindhu says in a statement Wednesday that the union is “working hard to avoid job action.”The union, which represents employees including transit

Environment Canada has issued wind warnings for British Columbia's central coast, Sunshine Coast and Greater Victoria regions, forecasting gusts of up to 120 kilometres an hour in some parts. The weather agency says an intense Pacific frontal system will remain off the coast through Friday, bringing the strongest winds to exposed coastal areas between northern Vancouver Island and Bella Bella. In the Sunshine Coast and the Victoria region, wind speeds are expected to reach 70 kilometres an hour with gusts up to 90 kilometres an hour. Environment Canada says the high winds may damage roof shing

The man who extorted and bullied British Columbia teenager Amanda Todd into suicide has had his 13-year sentence from a Canadian court converted to a six-year prison term in Europe.An Amsterdam court handed Aydin Coban the six-year sentence on Thursday, which is the maximum allowed under Dutch law and is longer than the 4 1/2 years prosecutors recommended to the court in July.Todd was 15 when she died by suicide at her home in Metro Vancouver in October 2012, weeks after posting a video watched by millions around the world describing being harassed and extorted by an online predator.Coban was

Shoppers should expect to see no single use plastic bags, straws or utensils in stores and restaurants starting tomorrow, as newfederal single-use plastics rules take effect. Cities like Vancouver and Victoria have already have their own rules in place. The BC government says food service providers will no longer be able to offer single-use plastic utensils, lids and other items like plastic sushi grass. It says such items can only be given out if a customer asks for them. federal rules will mean businesses are banned from giving out, manufacturing, and importing for sale checkout bags, cutle

The British Columbia Prosecution Service says there will be no charges stemming from a bus crash on an icy highway in the province's Interior last Christmas Eve that killed four people. Service spokesman Dan McLaughlin says it reached the decision after the Crown counsel assessing the allegations concluded that the standard for charges had not been met. The prosecution service guideline says in order for charges to be approved, there must be a "substantial likelihood of conviction" based on the strength of the evidence as well as the public interest being served in a prosecution. The crash of