Environment Canada says B-C broke or tied at least 27 daily heat records Wednesday.
Lytton in the Fraser Canyon was the hottest spot in the province at 42 degrees, shattering the 2009 record of 35.3 degrees.
Temperature records also fell in Vernon, Whistler, Nelson, Kamloops and Port Alberni, with daytime highs passing 35 degrees.
The weather agency says the hot conditions in many parts of the province will continue into next week.
The Canada Border Services Agency says a man who got caught smuggling more than 70 kilograms of cocaine into Canada through the Pacific Highway border crossing has been sentenced to nine years in prison. Gerry Crawley, a commercial driver from New Brunswick, came through the Surrey crossing in March 2021 with a tractor-trailer of products from California.
The province has announced changes to the Police Act that it says would strengthen oversight of local police forces and improve their governance. The legislative changes would allow B-C’s police complaints commissioner to call a public hearing earlier into misconduct investigations, and give the commissioner the authority to conduct systemic reviews into causes or contributors of police complaints.
A global forest study says Canadian wildfires last year were "entirely" to blame for a worldwide surge in tree losses. The study released by researchers at the University of Maryland on the Global Forest Watch website says tree cover loss in 2023 reached 28.3 million hectares globally, a 24 per cent jump driven by Canada's loss of 8.6 million hectares last year.
NDP MPs Carol Hughes and Rachel Blaney have joined Charlie Angus in deciding that they won't run again in the next federal election. The federal New Democrats delivered the news in a joint announcement, saying all three want more family time after years of dedicated public service.
Attacks on aid workers are not just something that happens in war, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday, slamming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defence of a deadly airstrike on aid workers in central Gaza on April 1. Canadian Army veteran Jacob Flickinger, 33, was among those killed while delivering food aid for World Central Kitchen.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a new $1.5-billion housing fund will help non-profit organizations acquire more rental units across Canada and make sure they remain affordable. The new Canada Rental Protection Fund will be included in the upcoming federal budget, to be tabled on April 16.