The Vancouver Police Board has successfully appealed a City of Vancouver decision that cut millions from the police budget and the timing means the cost won't hit taxpayers until next year. Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer says a provincial report from the director of police services has ordered the city to restore $5.7 million to the department’s 2021 budget.Palmer says in a statement that the removal of that funding directly affected the number of police officers the department was able to hire to meet the city’s policing needs.City Manager Paul Mochrie says in an email that the ruling

The Integrated Homcide Investigation Team says it has found the car linked to a deadly, targeted shooting in the parking lot of a North Vancouver shopping centre on Friday that killed 34 year old Milad Rahmi. Detective Corporal Sukhi Dhesi says the dark blue Mazda 3 hatchback used by the suspects to flee after the shooting was found burning in North Vancouver's North Lonsdale area at about 7 p.m. Saturday. Dhesi says homicide investigators also have pictures and descriptions of two people seen leaving the car before it burned and she says police want to speak to anyone with information about t

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told M-Ps and senators that Russia is trying to annihilate his country.He used an address via video link to plead with Canadians to imagine the terror and horror of having cities bombed and destroyed and homes burned.Zelenskyy says he's grateful to the Canadian government for its support, but says sanctions so far have not been enough.He says what's needed is a no-fly zone to stop Russian planes and missiles.

Over a three-day period, B.C. is reporting 689 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 352,728 cases in the province:March 11-12: 280 new casesMarch 12-13: 211 new casesMarch 13-14: 198 new casesThere are 359 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 51 are in intensive care.In the past 72 hours, 14 new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,946.There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreak at Mission Memorial Hospital (Fraser Health) has been declared over, for a total of 13 facilities with ongoing outbreaks. From March 4-10, people not fully vaccinated acco

The British Columbia government has moved to prevent thefts of catalytic converters, a crime that costs millions every year.The province has changed the regulations for metal dealers and recyclers to require them to report each transaction, including seller information, to police.Catalytic converters control exhaust emissions to reduce pollutants, but they have been a target for thieves because of an increase in the price of metals they contain.The Insurance Corporation of B.C. says converter theft claims have climbed from 89 in 2017 to 1,953 last year, totalling more than $4 million in claim

On April 1, 2022, the federal minimum wage will increase from $15.00 to $15.55 per hour. For those working in provinces or territories where the general minimum wage rate is higher, the higher rate will continue to apply.The federal minimum wage, which came into force on December 29, 2021, is adjusted automatically on April 1 of every year, based on the average annual increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as reported by Statistics Canada. This is to ensure that the federal minimum wage keeps pace with inflation. This year’s rate increase reflects the 3.4% annual average rise of the CPI

Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia was shot dead during a kabaddi tournament at Mallian Khurd village, in Nakodar. Shooting happened while a match was being played on Monday evening. Media reports suggest Sandeep had come to attend the tournament and some people were taking selfies with him when some assailants arrived in a car. Two assailants shot the kabaddi player dead and fled. Police are trying to track down the killers. Sandeep was a popular kabaddi player and belonged to Nangal Ambia village, near Shahkot.

The British Columbia government is pushing the minimum wage up to $15.65 an hour, which it says is the highest among the provinces. Labour Minister Harry Bains announced today that the hourly wage will jump by 45 cents starting June 1.The increase is the first to be tied to B.C.'s annual inflation rate, which was 2.8 per cent last year.Bains says the decision to use the provincial rate of inflation rather than the national rate was made to better reflect the needs of B.C. workers.He says the increase is expected to attract more workers to the province, while providing certainty of costs for bu

A group of Metro Vancouver truck drivers concerned about high gas prices staged a protest this morning that reduced traffic to a crawl on Highway 1 between Langley and Coquitlam. Spokesman Ryan Hess, who owns a trucking company in Abbotsford, says fuel costs have climbed above two dollars a litre across the region and truckers are suffering. He says the convoy, which took place between 7 am and 9 am, had nothing to do with recent protests against COVID-19 mandates, instead truckers want the public to know the consequences of expensive fuel. Hess says some trucking companies may go out of busi