Vancouver Rundown

An animal rescue sanctuary in the Okanagan has been hit by Avian flu. Summerland-based Critteraid says its been facing one of the most heartbreaking experiences in its history that needs immediate action from regulatory authorities, Interior Health and epidemiologists. Details on the number of animals infected have not been released. Critteraid cares for birds, pets and other animals with 54 listed on its website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s cull of hundreds of Ostriches on an eastern B.C. hobby farm has begun. Protesters and advocacy reporters, many bolstered by U.S. right-wing bloggers and podcasters, reported hearing gun shots early Thursday evening after the Supreme Court of Canada decided against reviewing lower court decisions that relied on experts and science. The cull was first ordered a year ago after several of the large birds tested positive for avian flu. The farm’s owners say the birds are now virus free - health experts note there is no safe way to allow those once infected with avian flu to live.

Brace for more stormy weather. Coastal areas of the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and Vancouver and Gulf Islands are expected to be hit with several bands of heavy rainfall and strong wind starting Thursday morning and continuing into the weekend. A rainfall warning is in effect for the North Shore, Port Moody and Coquitlam. A second system is expected to ramp up late Sunday night and into Monday morning.

Metro Vancouver plans to bolster its campsite roster to meet growing demand. Those with the regional district have put forth a proposal four three wilderness type campgrounds, a dozen group sites and four multi-type sites. Four of those in Aldergrove, Belcarra and Derby Reach would be suitable for tents, trailers or RVs. A report finds campsite occupancy rates have increased from 65 to 86 per cent in the past two years. The expansion would possibly ease some of the pressure on the BC Parks system which constantly faces sell-outs.

A woman’s been rushed to hospital in critical condition following a Monday evening pedestrian collision in Surrey. Police say it happened at around 6:00 at the intersection of King George Boulevard and 40 Avenue. The driver remained at the scene to talk with police. Some vehicles have been slightly damaged but there are no other injuries.

Drivers are being warned to expect heavy snow on the Coquihalla Highway through Monday morning. DriveBC has issued an alert saying commercial trucker are now required to ‘chain up’ at Box Canyon. Numerous truckers struggled on steep hills of the highway on Sunday morning. The snow is expected to ease by Monday afternoon.

B.C.’s police watchdog has ordered a new investigation into a disgraced Vancouver Police detective. CTV reports the OPCC’s probe follows a complaint from a former sex trafficking survivor. The woman claims she was lured into a seedy world and made to perform sex acts for money. Jim Fisher has never been criminally charged in connection with the allegations. Fisher, who worked with sex trafficking victims, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation and breach of trust in 2018 for incidents involving a teen girl and a young woman.

Vancouver will not lower its voting age to 16. A motion to change the Vancouver Charter to lower the age from 18 to 16 has been soundly defeated. Councillor Pete Fry says he’s disappointed noting those who are 16 and 17 are increasingly engaged in civic issues and should be able to participate in city life. He says the lower voting age exists in some cities in numerous countries around the world.

Vancouver will not lower its voting age to 16. A motion to change the Vancouver Charter to lower the age from 18 to 16 has been soundly defeated. Councillor Pete Fry says he’s disappointed noting those who are 16 and 17 are increasingly engaged in civic issues and should be able to participate in city life. He says the lower voting age exists in some cities in numerous countries around the world.

ICBC says it will not increase insurance premiums for BC drivers until 2027. The crown insurance company says its finances don’t require any change for next year. That announcement, along with an NDP claim that its keeping rates low and affordable, comes despite many drivers paying more for the same coverage even though they have clean driving records and the same vehicle. ICBC says it plans to expand customer service and its online offerings.

Government liquor stores have reopened but those in the food and beverage industry say it may be a while before B.C.’s booze supply is back to normal. The end of the BCGEU strike is a major step toward restocking but restaurants, bars and private liquor stores may have to wait for supply to catch up to demand. Some expect that could take between two and six months. The tentative deal for the public sector workers still has to be ratified.

B.C.’s massive public service strike may be over. The BCGEU has reached a tentative deal with the provincial government, ending labour action that started back on Sept. 2. The Professional Employees Association has also announced it will end its pickets and return to talks with the province. BCGEU members will now vote on a deal that gives them a 12 per cent wage hike over four years - mediator Vince Ready has assisted in reaching the compromise deal.

Breaking News…Donald Trump says he’s ending all trade negotiations with Canada. The announcement on social media comes as the U.S. president expresses outrage over the Ontario government’s recent TV ads protesting U.S. tariffs. Those ads feature old clips of Ronald Regan speaking negatively about tariffs. Trump says the ad campaign is designed to interfere with the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts. Ontario’s campaign cost taxpayers $75M.

John Rustad won’t quit. The BC Conservative leader is rejecting the demands of his party’s president and the management committee to step down in light of what they call an ‘unprecedented level of turmoil’ over the past year. Rustad has rejected a letter signed by the party’s management committee saying the 39-member caucus is in a good place. Rustad says he has the support of membership after a vote on his leadership last summer.

A B.C. gangster who spent many years as a fugitive has now pleaded guilty to plotting to kill the Bacon brothers. UN gangster Conor D’Monte has pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Red Scorpions Jonathan, Jared and Jamie Bacon more than 15 years ago. A date for sentencing has not yet been set - it’s expected the Crown will drop D’Monte’s first degree murder charge in the 2009 Langley shooting death of Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair. In February 2022, D’Monte was arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he’d been living under a different name.

Another MLA has quit the BC Conservatives becoming the fifth to do so in less than a year. Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee says she’s leaving the caucus because John Rustad’s failed leadership needs to end. Boultbee says Rustad invited her to “get the fuck out” and she’s taking him up on the offer. Rustad accuses Boultbee of leaking caucus information to the media, suffering mental health issues and supporting Hamas. She also backed fellow MLA Elenore Sturko who quit the party over differences with Rustad.

A small group of only about a hundred people gathered at Vancouver’s Jack Poole Plaza Saturday afternoon as part of anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ protests being held in cities around the world. Those braving the heavy rain denounced Donald Trump saying he’s an authoritarian would-be dictator. The Vancouver rally comes as Premier David Eby continues his anti-Donald Trump comments while B.C.’s resource sector suffers during a campaign of tariffs on Canadian goods.

.BC.’s public service strike continues to escalate despite a meeting between government negotiators and leaders of the BCGEU. Union president Paul Finch says the government refuses to come close to demands of an eight per cent increase over two years - right now the NDP’s offer stands at between four and five percent over the same period. Meanwhile, about 370 more BCGEU members have joined the strike action. The move also comes as all non-essential members of the smaller Professional Employees Association walk of the job.

Airports in Victoria and Kelowna are among the five around North America that had their flight information systems hacked on Wednesday with pro-Hamas information. The screens, along with some public address systems, spewed anti-Jewish messages while slamming leaders of the U.S. and Israel. Transport Canada says it’s working with police to ensure there are no safety and security risks. Canada is routinely criticized by experts as a low-risk, high-value cyberattack target.

SFU’s new medical school is now accepting students. The announcement is a major step forward with the first group of students expected at the Surrey campus next August. The medical school will start with temporary facilities - permanent ones are expected to be in place by 2030. The government expects the school to add an extra 48 students to the region. There’s no word on what - if anything - is being offered to keep them from moving out-of-province.

A suspect has now been arrested in those random stabbing attacks in Yaletown. Four strangers received non-life threatening injuries after being knifed along the seawall in David Lam Park early Friday morning. On Monday afternoon, Vancouver Police arrested a 35-year-old woman on the Downtown Eastside. It’s not clear if the suspect is being connected to other attacks that happened in the same area.

Vancouverites will get to vote on whether to get rid of the Park Board. The provincial government has introduced legislation to change the Vancouver Charter and allow the city to axe its unique park board if voters approve. Mayor Ken Sim, who has been pushing for its demise, says he welcomes the province’s move but would have preferred it happened two years ago. Sim says Vancouverites deserve world-class parks that are delivered in a cost-effective manner.

All government liquor and cannabis stores are now behind BCGEU pickets. The move marks a major escalation in the public service strike after last week’s brief meeting between union and government negotiators. It also comes as the province’s bars and restaurants start running out of stock which would normally come through the government liquor distribution system. Right now, there are still no plans for the two sides to return to the bargaining table.

Those on 14 properties north of Kamloops are on evacuation alert following fears an unauthorized dam may fail. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District fears the Fadear Lake Dam could give way, releasing a large flow of water into a creek below it. The Regional District is telling people below the dam to be ready to leave on short notice.

“We won’t stop until we win a fair deal.” That’s what BCGEU president Paul Finch says as members of his union enter the sixth week of their public sector strike. Thousands of striking members and supporters marched from Victoria City Hall to the BC Legislature on Monday. The union says 22,000 of its 34,000 members are involved in job action now. The provincial government is not returning to the bargaining table right now.

“We won’t stop until we win a fair deal.” That’s what BCGEU president Paul Finch says as members of his union enter the sixth week of their public sector strike. Thousands of striking members and supporters marched from Victoria City Hall to the BC Legislature on Monday. The union says 22,000 of its 34,000 members are involved in job action now. The provincial government is not returning to the bargaining table right now.

“We won’t stop until we win a fair deal.” That’s what BCGEU president Paul Finch says as members of his union enter the sixth week of their public sector strike. Thousands of striking members and supporters marched from Victoria City Hall to the BC Legislature on Monday. The union says 22,000 of its 34,000 members are involved in job action now. The provincial government is not returning to the bargaining table right now.

‘It’s a public health emergency’ - that’s what Delta Councillor Dylan Kruger calls a 12 hours shutdown of his community’s only ER. A doctor staffing shortage is being touted as the cause of the fourth emergency room closure at Delta Hospital this year. It happened Saturday night, forcing emergency patients to be redirected to Surrey or hospitals on the other side of the Fraser River. Kruger says Health Minister Josie Osborne did not take-up his request to meet about this situation at last week’s Union of BC Municipalities conference.

Strike action will vastly increase in the next week - that’s the warning from the BCGEU as the province’s public sector strike continues into a fifth week. Union members rallied outside the B.C. Legislature Thursday in an effort to get the government to move beyond its latest wage offer. The union continues to demand an eight per cent wage hike over two years. The government is offering five per cent over the same period.

A few hundred striking public sector workers marched through downtown Vancouver Wednesday to draw attention to their push for much higher wages. The BCGEU members were joined by those from other unions for a noon hour walk from the Vancouver Art Gallery to Jack Poole Plaza. The union says it’s prepared to escalate the strike action after rejecting the Eby government’s five per cent wage increase over two years. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says it’s important to reach a fair deal but one that is fair for all British Columbians.

B.C.’s new Extortion Taskforce is taking the lead, investigating shots fired at South Asian radio station Swift 1200 AM. Staff at the station, located in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, called police Tuesday morning after discovering an exterior door shot-up. There are no reports of injuries. Radio Swift recently aired an interview with Surrey’s Police Chief, focusing on extortion and violence in the South Asian business community.

Canada’s postal workers have started strike action after the federal government announced plans to end door-to-door delivery. Ottawa’s move is an attempt to end huge and growing losses at Canada Post. The government’s plan also includes the closure of post offices in areas that were once rural but are now suburban. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says the changes are drastic. CUPW is not saying how long it plans to continue the strike.

Close to 600 workers at 25 government liquor stores have now walked-off the job as the BCGEU strike continues to ramp up. The move comes only two days after the Liquor Distribution Branch’s main warehouse and head office ended up behind pickets. Most of those 25 stores are in the Lower Mainland or Victoria and are considered the most profitable of the 200 outlets around the province. The BCGEU is pointing to a Leger poll that finds 81 per cent of British Columbians believe the public sector workers deserve raises matching or exceeding the rate of inflation.

Two people have been arrested and released as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gets set to move in and cull close to 400 ostriches from a farm in the Kootenays. The CFIA now has control of the property where inspectors had previously found infected birds. The farm’s managers and their supporters say all the birds are healthy now - having fully recovered. The CFIA’s cull order has been backed up in federal court.

Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko has been kicked out of the BC Conservative caucus while party leader John Rustad holds on to his leadership. Sturko says Rustad accused her of plotting against him during the party’s leadership review - Rustad has survived that review with 71 per cent of members endorsing his leadership. Sturko has used a Monday evening news conference to call on her former colleagues to ‘grow a set’ and ‘have some courage’ and tell Rustad how they feel about his leadership. Sturko also says she’s raised concerns about the allegations that 2,100 members were fraudulently signed up.

Wildfires in Washington state are responsible for the smoky air around the Lower Mainland over the weekend. Fire departments across the region received a number of calls from those concerned about the smell of smoke. The air quality index remains at medium. Most of the wildfire smoke can be blamed on the huge Bear Gulch wildfire in Olympic National Park.

B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad says his party’s database has been breached and that’s what’s lead to emails and texts attacking him. That position stands as concerns and public comments over his leadership continue to grow. An internal party audit also finds there have been over two thousand bogus membership signups and subsequent cancellations. Results of a leadership vote, following a four month review, will be released on Monday.

A new extortion task force is being set up in B.C. with one goal - targeting threats and violence in the South Asian business community. The RCMP-led task force will include 40 members from various agencies. Police say 45 extortion attempts and 27 shootings are under investigation in Surrey from this year alone. The Surrey Police Service says it’s very close to making arrests in this year’s shootings and arsons.

Public sector workers who support the B.C. mining sector are the latest to walk off the job as the BCGEU strike expands. Many of the workers are involved in safety and environmental regulation. The move comes as the two sides appear entrenched in their positions with the union pushing for a large wage increase and the government facing a huge budget deficit. In addition to the strike action, an overtime ban is now in place for provincial corrections workers.

B.C.’s provincial deficit is now pegged at $11.6B and expected to grow to $12.6B next year. That record high has been laid out by Finance Minister Brenda Bailey in her first quarter report. In addition to a loss in carbon tax revenue, Bailey says the province has seen decreases in revenue sources from natural gas, mining and forestry. The government continues to lay much of the blame on the Trump tariffs. Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar says the real issue is fiscal mismanagement. Other news…

Surrey Police have not yet commented on whether a suspect has been identified in a shooting in a parking lot at Bear Creek Park. It happened just after 9:00 Saturday evening following a confrontation between two groups of people. The victim’s injuries are serious but a recovery is expected. Investigators are now seeking more witnesses and dashcam footage.

RCMP say two deadly Lower Mainland shootings over the past week are linked to B.C.’s gang conflict. Last Friday, 24-year-old Taran Pandher was found shot dead in a taxi near 200 Street and 53 Avenue in Langley. On Wednesday, 34-year-old Shahaib Abasi was gunned down outside the Burnaby McDonald’s at Still Creek, just north of Highway One. Both victims were known to police. RCMP say the gang landscape is complex and fluid with those responsible for the shootings showing a complete disregard for public safety.

The hunt continues for the person who shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. Kirk was shot in the neck Wednesday morning while taking questions during an outdoor speaking event at the university campus south of Salt Lake City. Two initial suspects have been cleared following their arrests. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, is a friend and supporter of Donald Trump. He was 31-years-old.

Close to 4,000 B.C. public sector workers are now on strike with pickets up at 22 sites across the province. The Eby government continues to acknowledge its latest offer is below the rate of inflation but says the pay raises are above inflation if the previous three years are taken into account. BCGEU members in places such as Kelowna joined the pickets with one telling Black Press the government failed to live up to a promise last year to keep up with inflation.

Eight more cities, all outside the Lower Mainland, are now included in expanded picket action as the BCGEU strike enters its next phase. A B.C. Corrections office in Surrey will also be behind pickets on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the provincial government has tabled what it calls a final offer - a 4.5 per cent increase over two years consisting of both a wage increase and a cost-of-living allowance. Premier David Eby says the government wants a deal that fair to both public sector workers and B.C. taxpayers.

A high level B.C. gang member who escaped from the North Fraser pretrial jail three years ago has been arrested in Qatar. The Vancouver Sun reports Wolfpack gangster Robby Alkhalil was taken into custody on Friday. A month after he escaped, Alkhalil was convicted in absentia of the 2012 first degree murder of rival gangster Sandip Duhre. Despite a continuing investigation into the escape, no charges have been laid against those who helped Alkhalil flee.

Pickets are expanding as the BCGEU ramps up the province’s public service strike. The Vancouver office of the Ministry of Finance is now behind a picket line. Workers in Surrey, Victoria and Prince George remain off the job. The union says there’s no indication the government is prepared to return to the bargaining table with an improved offer. Premier David Eby says the government is not in a position to offer the wage hikes being sought by the BCGEU - he says union members already got a substantial wage increase in the last contract.

Pickets are expanding as the BCGEU ramps up the province’s public service strike. The Vancouver office of the Ministry of Finance is now behind a picket line. Workers in Surrey, Victoria and Prince George remain off the job. The union says there’s no indication the government is prepared to return to the bargaining table with an improved offer. Premier David Eby says the government is not in a position to offer the wage hikes being sought by the BCGEU - he says union members already got a substantial wage increase in the last contract.

Blame wildfire smoke and the warm, dry weather for the bad air around the Lower Mainland. A visible layer of haze will continue to hang for the next several days over the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver, Sea-to-Sky and other parts of B.C. Air quality advisories are in effect. Those bothered by the smoke are advised to stay indoors, close windows and use air filters.Meanwhile, more than two days after a wildfire broke out in the hills next to the Coquihalla Highway, the blaze is so far out-of-control that the route between Hope and Merritt has had to be shut down. The Mine Creek wildfire was discovered Monday - the Coquihalla was closed late Wednesday afternoon. Some people are speculating on social media the province allowed the situation to escalate by underestimating the need for greater initial action. There are no fatalities or serious injuries after a helicopter and its wildfire attack crew made a forced landing in the backcountry near Pemberton. Rescuers, along with paramedics, had to bring the crew to safety. The Transportation Safety Board has no early word on why the chopper went down.

The first round of job action by B.C. public sector workers has started. Pickets went up in Surrey, Victoria and Prince George as members of the BCGEU and the Professional Employees Association push for substantial wage hikes. Several ICBC offices are not open. The Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria is closed. While many of the workers are deemed ‘essential’ and likely won’t strike, others work for government liquor stores, cannabis outlets, social service agencies and more.