Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Feb, 2024 10:47 AM
B-C politicians are back in Victoria this week for the spring legislative session.
Today's speech from the throne will set out the political agenda for the coming weeks ahead of this fall’s provincial election campaign.
N-D-P house leader Ravi Kahlon says he expects the looming election will contribute to a somewhat tense atmosphere at the legislature as the parties prepare to hit the campaign trail in the months ahead.
Kahlon says the government will continue focusing on the housing crisis, health care and cost of living
Prosecutors in British Columbia say they won't be charging an RCMP officer in connection with the death of an Indigenous man in Prince George in 2020. A statement from the prosecution service says that although the province's independent watchdog said there were reasonable grounds to believe the officer may have committed an offence, the evidence available isn't enough for charges.
Farmers in B-C are preparing for an influx of avian flu cases as wild birds begin migrating south. But a spokesperson for the B-C Poultry Association Emergency Operations Centre says he doesn't expect as much devastation as last year.
On Thursday at after 1:30pm Surrey RCMP responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a semi-truck in the southbound lanes of King George boulevard just north of 104 Avenue. The pedestrian has been transported to hospital with serious injuries. There are single lane closures on both on the northbound and southbound side of King George boulevard between 104 Avenue and 105 Avenue.
The report by Cardus looking at the roll out of the programs in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick found that issues ranging from unspent funding to skilled labour shortages led to missed child care targets. The federal government signed separate, five-year funding agreements with provinces and territories in 2021, committing up to $30 billion in five years toward the establishment of $10-a-day child care.
The parliamentary budget officer says a single-payer universal drug plan would cost federal and provincial governments an additional$11.2 billion in the first year, and $13.4 billion in five years. The PBO released a report on Thursday that provides an estimate for the cost of a pharmacare program between 2024-25 and 2027-28. It follows up on a previous costing the PBO published in 2017 for a pharmacare plan.
The Supreme Court of Canada's refusal to hear a Hells Angels challenge of B.C.'s forfeiture of three clubhouses will "put criminals on notice," the province's pubic safety minister says. The high court ended a years-long court battle on Thursday as it refused to hear an appeal of the seizure of the clubhouses in East Vancouver, Nanaimo, and Kelowna.
