B-C provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry is scheduled to provide an update this afternoon on the province's respiratory illness season.
It's Henry's first update of 2024 and she'll be joined by Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The most recent information from the province's centre for disease control says that in late December Influenza A and R-S-V cases were on the rise.
The centre said at the time that COVID-19 numbers were remaining stable or decreasing since early November.
After more than 30 overpass strikes by commercial trucks in British Columbia in the past two years, a trucking group is urging the transportation minister to conduct a wide-ranging safety review of the provincial supply chain. The United Truckers Association says in a statement that recent overpass strikes have brought to light "deficiencies" in road safety for commercial vehicles.
Between January and June 2023, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued more than 280,000 new study permits -- a 77 per cent increase compared to the same time in 2022. Meanwhile, beginning January 1, 2024, the Canadian government doubled the cost-of-living financial requirement for incoming international students. This means that a single applicant will need to show they have C$20,635 ($15,181) in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is calling on the federal government to remove a cap on the number of Palestinians who can seek refuge with their Canadian extended family members from the violence in the Gaza Strip.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne spent most of last year doling out big bucks for massive new electric-vehicle battery plants as Canada made some major moves to solidify its green industrial strategy. But he is warning that the country is reaching the limits of its abundant renewable energy capacity, and making more electricity is going to be key to keeping the wins coming.
A British Columbia woman who was convicted of murdering her eight-year-old daughter has been found dead in prison. Correctional Service Canada says Lisa Batstone, who was serving an indeterminate life sentence for suffocating her sleeping child with a plastic bag in 2014, died in custody on Monday.
B-C United M-L-A Elenore Sturko says she and other lawmakers got an unwelcome Christmas gift this year from local drug activist Dana Larsen. Sturko says she was offended to receive a Christmas package containing psilocybin mushrooms and a coca leaf, which Larsen offers at local dispensaries.