BC Ferries has indefinitely cancelled four round-trips, a total of eight sailings, between Tsawwassen and Duke Point in Nanaimo starting tomorrow morning due to mechanical issues with the Queen of New Westminster. It says in a release the cancelled sailings start at 5:15 a.m. from Tsawwassen. BC Ferries says the ship has a problem with a propeller and that the Coastal Inspiration will offer eight daily sailings between the two terminals but customers with reservations on the Queen of New Westminster's cancelled sailings will be contacted regarding the status of their bookings. It's recommendi

Health officials are urging British Columbia residents not to travel outside their community as the province set back-to-back records for the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in a single day. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement Saturday that B.C. had 1,072 infections in the last 24 hours, surpassing the previous highest daily total of 1,018 cases a day earlier. Henry and Dix say an easy-to-use provincial booking system for vaccinations is expected to be available starting next week as B.C. runs two parallel streams to ramp up

BC has received more doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and is distributing many of them to pharmacies. Health Minister Adrian Dix says almost 189,000 doses were received yesterday and more are expected next week. The BC Pharmacy Association says supply is being distributed to 375 more pharmacies, bringing the total offering vaccine appointments to 488. Community pharmacies were overwhelmed after the government opened bookings to Lower Mainland residents ages 55 to 65.

Victoria police are looking for a woman in her early 20s who's alleged to have chased a security guard while brandishing a knife. Police say it started yesterday afternoon in a parking lot of Hillside Mall when the security guard approached a couple having a loud argument. When the guard asked the man and woman to leave, police say she pulled out the knife and chased the guard. The pair took off together and now police are searching for the slim, Caucasian woman. Victoria Police on Twitter: UPDATE | The suspect has been identified in an incident at a Victoria mall where a security guard was c

BC Ferries has cancelled four sailings between Duke Point and Tsawwassen ahead of the Easter long weekend. A statement says the Queen of New Westminster has an ongoing mechanical issue. This morning's 10:15 sailing from Tsawwassen didn't go as planned and the same trip at 3:15 is also cancelled, while the 12:45 and 5:45 sailings from Duke Point won't be leaving. BC Ferries says the 8:15 run from Tsawwassen and 10:45 departing Duke Point tonight have been confirmed to sail. BC Ferries on Twitter: #ServiceNotice #Tsawwassen #DukePoint #QueenofNewWest has cancelled the following sailings due to

Job-protected leave has been written into British Columbia's Employment Standards Act to give workers time off to get their COVID-19 vaccinations. Labour Minister Harry Bains says the safeguard will ensure that no one will lose their job if they need time away to get vaccinated. The changes allow part-time and full-time workers to take as much time as needed to travel and receive the vaccine or to take a dependent family member to get their shot, though no specific time has been set out. Bains says he know that most businesses understand the importance of having their employees vaccinated to

An inspection of a long-term care home that was the site of BC's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak found staffing levels were low and cleaning was inadequate as the virus spread throughout the facility. The Vancouver Coastal Health inspection report obtained through a freedom of information request says these two issues were corrected while the outbreak was still underway in Little Mountain Place. Bernadette Cheung filed a complaint that prompted the report after her grandmother died of COVID-19 at the Vancouver home along with 40 other residents. Cheung says the report doesn't provide details, suc

Beginning one month today, electric car drivers will have to pay to power-up their vehicles at fast-charge stations. BC Hydro gave the thumbs up to start applying user fees after getting the OK from the BC Utilities Commission to charge anywhere from 12 to 27 cents per minute. But John Stonier of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association worries the rates are too low. He says that in order to encourage hotels, restaurants and service centres along highways to install charging stations, those businesses need to get their money back through charging.

A decision by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal says anyone denied service for refusing to wear a mask must be ready to prove they have a disability if they intend to file a complaint. The warning is contained in a screening decision published Wednesday as tribunal member Steven Adamson addresses what he describes as a large volume of complaints alleging discrimination related to mask requirements. Screening decisions are among the first steps in a tribunal investigation and are rarely released, but Adamson says he's publishing his findings because there have been many similar compla