Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Dec, 2023 10:55 AM
A B-C company has forfeited 10 million dollars to the province over allegations it provided payment services for people around the world who ran scams aimed at elderly seniors.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth says a settlement agreement with PacNet Services is the largest such confiscation in the history of its civil forfeiture program.
Part of the agreement includes no admission of unlawful activity on the part of PacNet.
Farnworth says the major forfeiture sends clear message that B-C will continue to take decisive action against suspected proceeds of crime
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says time is running out to help people in Gaza. In a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto this afternoon, Joly is expected to plead for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas conflict to allow more aid to get into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which is home to more than two million Palestinians.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberals to exempt all forms of home heating from the carbon price, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an exemption for three years that only applies to home heating oil. The federal government announced last week that it is increasing the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians and lifting the carbon price off home heating oil entirely for the next three years.
An unseasonable cold snap covering much of the province broke records over the weekend, including one that had been in place for more than a century. Environment Canada reports at least eight new lows for the record books, such as Nelson’s low of at minus 4.9 degrees, exceeding the 4.4 degrees set in 1905.
A new provincewide public safety coalition that includes community and business groups, citizens and well-known B-C retailers is set to launch today. A statement says the coalition wants governments to work together and act quickly on crime and violence issues in communities across B-C.
A second referendum on Khalistan — an independent state in India proposed by some Sikhs — was held today at the same Surrey gurdwara where activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June. Sarbraj Kahlon, news director at Radio Punjab who was at the referendum site, called the latest vote a success after 65,700 people turned out in Surrey Sunday to cast ballots.
A statement from B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office says it has submitted a report to the prosecution service for consideration of charges related to the July 2021 incident in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. It says an interaction took place between a man and police at the drive-through window of a local business, during which police fired shots and the driver of the vehicle was killed.
