President-elect Donald Trump says Justin Trudeau resigned because he knows the U.S. will not put up with trade deficits with Canada and says many Canadians would love being the 51st state.
Trump reiterated his rhetoric about Canada joining the United States in a post on Truth Social after Trudeau’s announcement that he will resign as Liberal leader and prime minister as soon as a new leader is chosen.
More to come.
With the cost of living playing a central role in provincial elections across Canada and in the U.S. presidential race, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is set to unveil a pre-campaign policy plank for the next federal election to differentiate his party from the governing Liberals. Singh is expected to announce this morning that an NDP government would remove the GST on what his party deems "essentials."
British Columbia's Conservation Officer Service says a man from Abbotsford has pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in black bear paws. A statement from the service says Hong Tao Yang entered his pleas in a Port Coquitlam courtroom on Wednesday, where he was ordered to pay a penalty and victim surcharge worth a total of $8,625.
Police in Squamish have issued a warning against vigilante action over safety concerns they say are circulating on social media. The statement from Sea to Sky RCMP says police want to "reassure" residents of the community about 60 kilometres north of Vancouver that "there is no current threat to public safety."
The City of Vancouver says it is on track to meet provincial targets in housing development in its latest progress report. Vancouver's first annual report on the targets showed that more than four-thousand units were built in the city from October 2023 to September 2024.
Dozens of criminal charges have been laid against three people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme that targeted vehicle businesses for what police say was about 850-thousand dollars in losses. R-C-M-P in Richmond say their officers began an investigation in January over allegations that forged bank drafts were used to purchase high-end vehicles, including B-M-W's, Mercedes-Benz and others valued at between 33-thousand and 103-thousand dollars.
Mounties in Burnaby say four people have been arrested and large amounts of drugs and cash have been seized following a four-month interprovincial drug trafficking investigation. They say officers executed two search warrants on properties in Coquitlam and Surrey and seized more than 95-hundred Hydromorphone pills believed to be diverted prescription pills, as well as other substances including more than a kilogram of suspected cocaine.