B-C Auditor General Michael A. Pickup is retiring in November after four years in the role.
He made the announcement today and thanked everyone who has supported and worked with him during his time in the province.
Pickup says he'll be returning to the Maritimes to be closer to his family and will contribute to the public and private sectors in different ways going forward, without giving any specifics.
He's Canada's first and only openly gay auditor general and Indigenous auditor general.
A woman has been arrested over what Vancouver police say is a series of assaults against "random strangers" in the city. Police say officers responded to multiple calls on Sunday in the city's downtown core where the 32-year-old woman is alleged to have assaulted three people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby says the government has asked the auditor general to review the province's grant programs after allegations of conflict-of-interest from a clean-technology company. The development comes after Merritt, B.C.-based electric-hybrid truck maker Edison Motors said in a TikTok video that accounting firm MNP was both administering a CleanBC grant and offering to provide services to aid businesses in applications.
A Crown lawyer says holdups to the trial of a man found guilty of murdering a 13-year-old Burnaby, B.C., girl were mostly attributable to the defence and "discrete exceptional events," as he argued against the case being thrown out over delays. Daniel Porte told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that if those events were subtracted, the remaining delays to Ibrahim Ali's trial would have amounted to about 25 months, falling within the allowable threshold.
Police in Prince George, B.C., say they have arrested two people over allegations they were trafficking safe-supply drugs that are prescribed as an alternative to the toxic drug supply in the province. RCMP say they acted on tips from the public and information from other investigations to gather enough evidence to detain the two suspects who were "seen allegedly exchanging illicit drugs for safer supply drugs."
Police in Surrey are asking for witnesses in a case last month where an officer shot and seriously injured a fleeing suspect. Surrey Mounties say two Surrey Police Service officers were patrolling on foot on March 17th when they got a call about a man with a gun.
Economists say it could take months before consumers regain confidence and create a rebound in Canada's housing market, but a pent-up demand remains in places like BC. TD Bank economist Rishi Sondhi says the Canadian housing market is akin to a coiled spring, and significant demand in B-C and Ontario could be sparked by activities such as an interest-rate cut.