Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Oct, 2023 04:16 PM
Vancouver's city council has approved bylaw amendments to allow the sale of wine on shelves in certain grocery stores.
Mayor Ken Sim says in a statement the decision will make shopping more convenient and support British Columbia's wine industry.
He says council is excited that the city is finally joining other municipalities for the "enhanced" shopping experience.
Council approved the bylaw changes that will allow for the sales, as long as the stores are larger than 10-thousand square feet and have a provincial wine licence and local business licence.
The B.C. RCMP arrested several people, including a photojournalist and a documentary filmmaker, last month when officers moved to enforce an injunction barring protesters from blocking an access road used by Coastal GasLink workers.
Experts and global health leaders say it's still too soon to tell whether the Omicron variant will significantly threaten immunity gained from current COVID-19 vaccines as calls grow in some corners for expanded booster shots.
The British Columbia government says it is immediately providing a grant of $1 million to support the Village of Lytton as it recovers from a destructive wildfire last summer. The fast-moving fire razed much of the Fraser Canyon community on June 30, just one day after the temperature there hit an all-time Canadian high of 49.6 Celsius.
There are 2,874 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 215,884 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 224 individuals are currently in hospital and 77 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
British Columbia's seniors advocate is calling for a provincewide approach for reporting seniors abuse amid complaints that are "significantly rising." Isobel Mackenzie says there is a clear five-year pattern of increasing reports of seniors abuse and neglect, but the fragmented reporting system suggests the problem could be more widespread.
Canada will join a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday. The decision comes two days after the United States announced it would send government officials to the Olympics over concerns about China's human rights record.
