The parliamentary budget officer is projecting inflation will return to the Bank of Canada's two per cent target by the end of the year and the federal deficit will grow amid weakening economic conditions. The budget watchdog's latest economic and fiscal outlook comes as the federal government gears up for its spring budget and Canadians eagerly wait for the central bank to begin lowering interest rates.
British Columbia's government says it is setting 10-year targets to substantially reduce poverty in the province, with a focus on lifting children and seniors above the poverty line. Sheila Malcolmson, social development and poverty reduction minister, says legislation introduced today changes three laws to set higher targets to cut poverty, ease employment requirements for people on income and disability assistance and provide more supports.
There has been another crane accident in Metro Vancouver, in what B.C.'s workers' safety agency says is the fourth such incident this year. WorkSafeBC says the latest incident happened Monday at a work site in Vancouver.
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation has issued a warning about a series of scams it says are circulating online, imitating casinos in the province. The bulletin says the scams involve fraudulent posts and advertisements on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, which deceive people into entering their financial details on illegitimate websites.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will present the federal budget on April 16, as cost-of-living issues continue to dominate Canadian politics. The spending plan is coming at a time when high interest rates are putting a damper on the economy and ramping up fiscal pressure on the Liberal government.
Measles outbreaks internationally have health officials in British Columbia joining Canada's top doctor in encouraging people to get vaccinated before travelling abroad during spring break. One case of measles was reported in B.C. over the weekend, according to a joint bulletin issued Monday by the provincial government, the BC Centre for Disease Control and the provincial health officer.