BC Ferries has awarded a contract to build four new hybrid-electric vessels to be ready to sail by 2027. The ferry corporation says in a statement that the contract has gone to Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group, the same company that built its last six ferries in the same Island Class of double-ended hybrid ships.
Former premier Rachel Notley, after almost a decade at the helm of Alberta’s NDP, is stepping down from the top job. Notley, the official Opposition leader, said a leadership race will be called and she will stay on as leader until a replacement is chosen.
A small cabinet shuffle in B-C has promoted Victoria's Grace Lore to the post of minister of children and family development. Premier David Eby announced the previous children's minister, Mitzi Dean, will now be the minister of state for child care.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says voters in the United States will face a choice later this year between optimism for the future or nostalgia for a past that never existed. Trudeau made the comments in Montreal today to a business crowd in reference to Donald Trump's victory Monday in the Iowa Republican caucuses, which gives the former president an early lead for the Republican nomination ahead of the November election.
Vancouver International Airport says traffic forecasts for mid-January show passenger numbers have almost completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels. YVR says it is expecting just over 420-thousand passengers from January 15th to the 21st, just short of the 2019 figure of almost 426-thousand.
More than 100 wildfires are still listed as burning in British Columbia thanks to a combination of a busy wildfire season, extreme drought and generally warmer and drier conditions through December. Forrest Tower of the BC Wildfire Service said that while it's not uncommon for some fires to burn through the winter, that number usually hovers around a couple dozen, not the 106 that were listed as active on New Year's Day.