The estimated costs are largely associated with building and administering a new data system to keep track of the animals. Right now, there are 23 elephants and about 30 gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. The federal government called the conclusion speculative, noting it is based on legislation that hasn't even passed yet.
A new fight is playing out at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission over the first $100-million annual payment Google agreed to pay Canadian news outlets. The Canadian Journalism Collective, the group tasked by Google to distribute the money to news outlets, has submitted plans for its governance structure to the CRTC.
A provincial court judge in Surrey has thrown out a small claims case between a lumber company and a fence building firm over an "unlawful scheme" between the two to avoid paying GST and PST. The principal of Top Quality Lumber Ltd., Amarjit Dhaliwal, told the court in June that H & R Fencing owed his company almost $21,000, but H & R's owner said it was closer to $4,000 in unpaid bills.
A statement from the First Nation outside Vernon on Thursday says BC Wildfire Service personnel were working to maintain guards around the seven-square-kilometre Hullcar Mountain blaze while helicopters douse it with water. The blaze is one of nine wildfires of note in the province, meaning the fires are either highly visible or pose a threat to public safety and infrastructure.
The British Columbia government has appointed Dr. Jatinder Baidwan as the province's new chief coroner following the retirement of Lisa Lapointe earlier this year. The Ministry of Public Safety says in a statement that Baidwan takes on the role after serving as the chief medical officer for the BC Coroners Service since 2017.
Police in Metro Vancouver say they're investigating an assault on a woman wearing a hijab as a possible hate crime. New Westminster Police say they received a report of an assault inside a fast-food restaurant at about 10 o'clock Sunday night.