Provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says there is no need for the ``heavy hand'' of a mask mandate as respiratory illnesses climb in many areas of BC. Dr. Henry made the comment during a news conference this morning where she noted that 90 per cent of BC residents have some COVID-19 immunity through vaccination, infection or both. She and Health Minister Adrian Dix confirm the province is seeing an expected increase in flu cases while COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV are also becoming more common, but not at rates seen in other parts of Canada. Henry and Dix recommend

Coquitlam RCMP is asking for the public’s assistance in locating the rightful owner of a found ring. A good Samaritan turned the ring into the Coquitlam RCMP - Ridgeway Community Police station after it was located on a trail near the water at Rolley Lake Provinical Park in Mission at the beginning of September, 2022.The ring can be described as:Yellow goldDiamondsThe rightful owner will be required to provide ownership by providing police with details of an inscription as well as any other identifying marks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office says it deleted a tweet that his account posted overnight denouncing the Iranian regime based on false information that had been circulating on social media. The message said Iran's decision to impose the death penalty on nearly 15,000 protesters was ``barbaric,'' but that number has been widely discredited as disinformation. The Prime Minister's Office says the tweet, which was online for about 11 hours, was based on initial reporting that was incomplete and lacked necessary context. An Instagram post citing the figure was widely shared by celebrities b

The Merritt RCMP is currently investigating multiple shootings in the Merritt, Coldwater, and Mamette Lake Road areas. On November 15, 2022, between 5:00am and 6:30am the Merritt RCMP was alerted to multiple shootings that occurred in the Merritt, Coldwater and Mamette Lake Road areas. Police believe all the incidents are related and targeted."We are actively investigating what happened", says Sgt. Josh Roda. "We do not believe there is any further risk to the public and will have a significant police presence in these areas as we move forward with the investigations."The investigation is curr

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the province will not be providing any money to support a decision by Surrey city council to end the transition to a municipal police force. Council voted 5-4 yesterday in favour of keeping the RCMP as promised by new Mayor Brenda Locke during the municipal election campaign. City staff will now put together a report to re-establish the RCMP as the sole police force in Surrey that will address issues such as severance pay for current members of the municipal force. It will be sent to Farnworth for final approval and he says he expects to receive it b

The province will conducting a test of BC's emergency alerting system tomorrow afternoon. Emergency Management BC says the test will be sent to wireless devices and broadcast on radio and TV stations at 1:55 p-m (Pacific time) as part of the national Alert Ready system to improve public safety in the event of emergency. The system was launched in BC in April 2018 and is tested twice each year. It was expanded by the NDP government last spring to include alerts for wildfires, floods and extreme-heat emergencies, in addition to tsunamis, civil emergencies and Amber Alerts.

Poland says it was a Russian-made missile that fell in a village in the eastern part of the country and killed two people. Its foreign minister summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an immediate detailed explanation. The confirmation means this is the first time in the war that a Russian weapon has come down in a NATO member country. Canada and other NATO members on both sides of the Atlantic are scrambling over how to respond to a potential escalation of the war in Ukraine. Canada and other NATO members on both sides of the Atlantic are scrambling over how to respond to a potential es

Voting is underway by members of the BC Liberal Party on a party name change. Party members are voting to support a proposed name change to BC United, with results expected Wednesday. Party members voted strongly in favour of considering a name change last June at their convention. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon pledged to make a name change one of his promises during his leadership campaign earlier this year.

The Province is inviting companies to submit their qualifications for the third and final contract of the Surrey Langley SkyTrain project.The Surrey Langley SkyTrain project is a 16-kilometre extension of the Expo Line from King George Station to Langley City Centre and is the first rapid transit expansion south of the Fraser River in 30 years. Once complete, the project will provide high-quality and low-cost transportation for people in Surrey, Langley and across Metro Vancouver.As part of the competitive selection process, a request for qualifications (RFQ) has been issued for the systems an