The B-C Real Estate Association says the province's housing market is staying relatively calm this spring,
The association says sales were up more than 15 per cent last month compared to February 2023.
B-C-R-E-A Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson says activity is picking up, but home sales are still below normal and prices have been essentially flat since last summer.
Active listings are up more than 20 per cent over last year's levels as a result of slower sales.
Prison officials in British Columbia say they've seized a large stash of contraband, including steroids and cellphones, smuggled into a maximum security institution outside Vancouver last week. Kim MacPherson, an assistant warden at Kent Institution, says the seizure was made on Aug. 24 thanks to staff vigilance.
Canada's first known case of the Omicron variant BA.2.86 was detected this week in British Columbia as the country became the seventh in the world to report its presence. Health Canada is currently reviewing applications for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech's new mRNA vaccines, developed against the dominant XBB.1.5 variant ahead of a vaccination campaign set for the fall.
Vancouver's park board is urging Stanley Park visitors to avoid driving to Stanley Park in September to alleviate heavy traffic linked to large-scale events. The board says visitors should consider using alternative transportation methods or park elsewhere in the city.
The City of Vancouver is cautioning people to stop consuming alcohol on beaches starting next week as a three-month pilot program comes to an end. The city's park board says alcohol consumption on Vancouver beaches will no longer be legal as of this coming Tuesday.
The latest G-D-P report showing the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.2 per cent in the second quarter may signal an end to the Bank of Canada's rate hiking campaign.
Canadians planning to hit the road for the last long weekend of summer can expect to pay more for gasoline than they did last Labour Day. The national average gasoline price as of Friday was $1.67 cents per litre, according to fuel price tracking website GasBuddy.com.