Big numbers are being reported for B-C's cruise industry. The Port of Vancouver says its final cruise ship of the 2023 season is setting sail today.
It says the 2023 cruise season in Vancouver has been the port's biggest season on record, with an estimated 1.25-million passengers this year.
It says that marked a 54 per cent increase in the number of visitors in 2022.
The port says 332 ships docked between April and October this year.
A drug alert has been issued by Fraser Health after benzodiazepines were detected in vape juice containing cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids. The Mounties say the tainted products are being sold in clubs and bars, but may also be sold elsewhere.
R-C-M-P are looking for a suspect wanted in a fraud and identity theft case that has resulted in more than 200 charges being laid. The Mounties say two others have been taken into custody after a vehicle stop in March led to the seizure of multiple forged documents.
The BC Prosecution Service says the charge for Cst. Robby Pawar stems from an incident that is alleged to have happened on Dec. 3, 2021, in Delta, B.C. The Mountie's first appearance is scheduled to take place on August 2, 2023 in Surrey Provincial Court.
The delivery of the terms comes after federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan late Tuesday instructed the mediator to send him the terms within 24 hours so he could forward them to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association.
The government introduced the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act in 2017. It passed in February 2019 and took effect that July. It made it illegal to abandon a boat in Canada and gives the government the power to go after boat owners when their vessels are wrecked or left behind, including fines up to $1 million.
Police say it started just after nine last night when the driver of the C-L-S-550 fled the traffic stop, and the vehicle was located a short time later on Highway 99 south of the Serpentine River overpass. The investigation closed the highway for hours, but traffic is now moving again.