Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 4.4 earthquake has struck of the coast of Vancouver Island. The seismic event was detected at 1:35 p.m. Pacific time. The United States Geological Survey says the quake occurred 26 kilometres underground about 48 kilometres southeast of Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It pegs the magnitude at 4.8. Some social media users say on Twitter that they felt the shake as far away as Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo and Victoria. Friday's event comes after a sequence of eight earthquakes struck off the coast of Vancouver Island betw

Two men have been charged with first-degree murder after an attack on a man last November in Surrey, B.C.The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Jordan Bottomley and Jagpal Hothi have appeared in provincial court in Surrey.The two men were arrested Friday and the B.C. Prosecution Service approved the charges related to the attack on 30 year old Andrew Baldwin.Police said at the time that Baldwin was found unresponsive, with critical injuries in a mainly industrial area of northwest Surrey. He was pronounced dead a short time later in hospital. Investigators have not released a possible

A teacher who is living with his pregnant wife and child in a city that is at the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak is hoping to get his family out safely.Tom Williams is a British expat who has been living and working for about five years in Wuhan, which is the capital of Hubei province in China. His wife Lauren, who is from Langley, B.C., is about 35 weeks pregnant, he said in a telephone interview from Wuhan. He also has a two-and-a-half-year-old son, James, who was born in White Rock, B.C. “We are quarantined in the city,” he said. While he said things are “pretty calm” an

The mayor of Surrey is not applauding the start of Uber and Lyft services in the Lower Mainland. The ride hailing services began operation today in Vancouver after the Passenger Transportation Board granted them approval to launch in the Lower Mainland and Whistler. Uber says it will also cover North and West Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and parts of Delta. But Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum says he still has concerns about what he says is the unfair advantage created for ride hailing services and will not support the issuing of business licenses for the industr

Police have identified the 45-year-old Vancouver woman attacked in a Gastown suite early Sunday. Constable Tania Visintin says Tonya Hyer was still alive when paramedics reached her at about 1:30 a.m. but died before she could be rushed to hospital. Investigators have not said what caused her death but Visintin says they believe someone has important information about her homicide -- the third in Vancouver this year. No arrests have been made.

Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft say they are on the road in Metro Vancouver, less than a day after receiving long-awaited approval for operating licences.Uber activated its app Friday morning, while Lyft held a news conference outlining is operational area covering downtown Vancouver, the international airport in Richmond and part of east Vancouver.Uber says it will service North and West Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and parts of Delta.Rate structures for the two companies are 33 cents a minute, but Uber will charge 70 cents per kilometre whil

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Claire Trevena made it clear today on Connect FM’s 'Sver Wala Show' that municipalities do not have the power to block ride sharing companies from operating.She said that a city’s role is limited to issuing business licenses to these companies.After a long wait of over two years, the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) on Thursday, finally granted ride sharing giants Uber and Lyft licenses to operate in Metro Vancouver and Whistler.The Mayor’s Council is working on an interim regional license which will save ride sharing companies the troub

Leading residential, commercial and industrial builders from the province’s largest economic sector got together in a hotel in Vancouver for 2020 BC real estate forecast. A crowd of 1,200 guests, including government and elected officials, builders, urban planners and real-estate professionals attended the event organised by a non-profit association of the development industry. There was an apparent agreement among the panelists that interest rate, construction cost, price for residential units and their rents could potentially go slightly up while the possibility of any reduction in the ma

A Canadian judge said Thursday she will announce her decision at a later date after she ended the first phase of an extradition hearing that will decide whether a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is sent to the United States. This week's hearings dealt with the question of whether the U.S. charges against Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder, are crimes in Canada as well. Her lawyers argued the case is really about U.S. sanctions against Iran, not a fraud case. They maintain since Canada does not have similar sanctions against Iran, no fraud occurred. Canada arrested Huawe