Canada's emergency preparedness minister says Ottawa is providing $870 million to support recovery efforts after destructive flooding in British Columbia last fall. Bill Blair says the money is the first payment as part of a commitment the federal government made in the immediate aftermath of the severe weather, with more to come.He says the money is being distributed through the disaster financial assistance program.British Columbia has asked for about $5 billion from the program, and provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says getting access to the money can take time, so this adva

Ripudaman Singh Malik's son says he doesn't believe his father's murder in Surrey yesterday has anything to do with the acquittal in the Air Indian bombing trial 17 years ago. Jaspreet Singh Malik says he is ``very much convinced'' his dad's murder and results of the trial are unrelated, and he trusts the RCMP to solve this crime. A BC Supreme Court found Malik and a co-accused not guilty in the two bombings of Air India jets in June 1985 that killed 331 people. Police say the people inside a Honda CRV who shot Malik had been waiting for two about half hours for him to show up in the parking l

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's day of whistle stops in the Ottawa area ended early today as anti-Liberal protesters gathered outside a brewery before he arrived. Trudeau was on his way to the Brasserie Etienne Brule Brewery in Embrun, Ontario, about 30 minutes east of Ottawa, when the event was called off. About a dozen protesters gathered across the street from the brewery, including one who was carrying a flag emblazoned with a profanity directed at Trudeau, and another who was recording the establishment on their phone. Earlier in the year, a ``Freedom Convoy'' base camp was set up in Emb

The head of the Council of the Federation gathering in Victoria says the federal government needs to stop splitting hairs and work with provinces and territories on health care. BC Premier John Horgan wants to sit down with the feds to work out how to restore Canada's ``crumbling'' system. Horgan says the provinces can sit down and solve the problems for Canadians, not for provinces and the federal government, but for the people. The premiers have called on the federal government to boost its share of health-care funding to 35 per cent from what they have said amounts to 22 per cent currently

A moment of silence was held in Kelowna at 10:45 this morning, marking the time that a crane collapsed one year ago, injuring one worker and killing four others, as well as a man working in a nearby building. The construction crane was being dismantled beside a nearly completed condo in Kelowna's downtown core when the swing arm buckled and fell, carrying the four workers to their deaths and crushing part of the building where the fifth victim was working. RCMP say its ``complex'' and ``technical'' investigation into possible criminality is continuing and WorkSafe BC is also probing the regul

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Canada's 13 premiers are meeting face-to-face as the Council of the Federation convenes in Victoria. Premier John Horgan is chairing the gathering and says there is unified support for a reworking of the federal funding model for health care. He says his colleagues want to see the federal portion of the health care tab jump from 22 to 35 per cent, and they want a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by this fall. The premier's meeting starts this afternoon but first the leaders meet with Indigenous representatives from across the count

The number of people looking for work in Canada set another record low, for the second time in as many months, as Statistics Canada reports the jobless rate fell to 4.9 per cent in June from 5.1 per cent in May. That's despite an overall loss of 43,000 jobs across the country last month. Economists say fewer people were looking for work in June, which would explain the continued dip in unemployment. Unemployment in BC didn't change much in June, climbing one-tenth of a point to 4.6 per cent, while Kelowna saw one of the biggest drops as the rate there fell to an even four per cent from its 4.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given into demands for his resignation. Fifty members of his government had left their positions citing Johnson's integrity as the reason for their departure. Speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street, Johnson expressed his gratitude and offered assurances that government will keep working as usual. Johnson said a timetable for choosing a new prime minister will be announced next week.

The man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade confessed to police that he unleashed a hail of bullets from a rooftop in suburban Chicago and then fled to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where he contemplated shooting up an event there. That's according to authorities who spoke Wednesday. Robert Crimo III turned back to Illinois, where he was later arrested after deciding he was not prepared to pull off a shooting in Wisconsin. An Illinois judge ordered Crimo to be held without bail. A prosecutor said police found the shells of 83 bullets and three ammunition magazines