Vancouver Rundown

Crews from B.C. have now arrived in Southern California to help battle the deadly wildfires around Los Angeles. Helicopters from Port Alberni-based Coulson Aviation have been working the frontlines. Wind gusts of over 100 kilometres an hour continue to challenge firefighters working on massive wildfires in Palisades and Pasadena as well as smaller ones around the county. A new fire erupted in the...

‘The skies [are] black and you can see the fires from everywhere’ - that’s just one description from one of the many people who have returned to Vancouver from Los Angeles. Passengers arriving at YVR describe horrific scenes of smoke, flame and carnage as crews continue to fight to control the wildfires burning in several areas around LA. At least five people have died, hundreds are injured and th...

Breaking News: Massive wildfires, fueled by hurricane force Santa Ana winds, continue to grow in suburbs around Los Angeles. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the Palisades Fire that started late Tuesday morning. Several people have been injured and crews have had a difficult time trying to get water to control the spread. Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire to the south - which broke out early Tuesd...

Justin Trudeau calls it quits after nine years as Prime Minister. Trudeau made the announcement Monday morning saying he intends to stay on as PM until the Liberals choose a new party leader. Parliament will not be recalled until March 24. Opposition leaders have responded by demanding an immediate election while a Dairy Queen in Langley is offering $2 ‘Trudeau Resignation Burgers.’

Police have been looking for the driver of a Maserati after a Saturday night hit-and-run in Surrey. Two pedestrians are injured after the high-end sportscar hit several vehicles near 75th Avenue and 124 Street at around 10:00 p.m. One of the injured, a 29-year-old man who was freed after being pinned under a car, was in critical but stable condition on Sunday.

A woman has been charged with double counts of attempted murder after a car with two children was driven toward the Fraser River. Delta Police say there was an attempt to drive into the Fraser on the morning of Nov. 29. Police found the car stuck in the mud. There’s a publication ban to protect the identities of the kids.

B.C.’s deficit has jumped to $9.3 billion. That revelation comes in the provincial government’s fiscal update. The debt is expected to rise to $130 billion by the end of the government fiscal year. Provincial Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says she expects modest economic growth of 0.9 per cent but also warns there’s looming uncertainty including Donald Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariff on Can...

Breaking: Conservative Tamara Jansen has flipped Cloverdale-Langley City Conservative. Jansen soundly defeated all her opponents in Monday’s federal byelection - getting more than three times as many votes as Liberal Candidate Madison Fleischer. The loss for the Liberals comes as another blow to the Justin Trudeau government…on the same day Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freel...

Breaking News: A body has now been recovered in a weekend landslide that hit a home before closing the Sea to Sky Highway near Lions Bay for hours. That confirmation came early Sunday evening. Searchers are continuing to look for a second victim. The slide happened on Saturday, blocking the highway between Squamish and West Vancouver. Canada Task Force 1, along with at least one dog, has been invo...

A stretch of the Sea to Sky Highway was closed for hours near Lions Bay this weekend after a mudslide knocked a home off its foundation and spread mud and debris over the road. Drones have been used to see if there are any possible victims. Canada Task Force 1, along with a search dog, has also been searching through the debris.

B.C. is once again offering huge tax breaks to film and TV production companies in an effort to keep studios shooting in the province. Premier David Eby has announced the BC Film Incentive tax credit will increase slightly from 35 to 36 percent. The production services tax credit will go up from the current 28 per cent to 36 per cent starting in January. Bonuses are also being offered for big budg...

Seven Vancouver police officers will soon face a public disciplinary hearing centred on their parts in the beating death of a 33-year-old man during a mental health crisis. Myles Gray died outside an East Vancouver home in 2015 after police were called to reports of a man behaving erratically. The Independent Investigations Office found three of the seven officers should face charges of manslaught...

Vancouverites will indeed pay a 3.9 per cent increase in their residential property taxes. That’s the smallest increase since Ken Sim became mayor, two years ago. City council approved its operating budget Tuesday afternoon but some point out it lacks detail. The Vancouver Police Department will get an extra $2.6M over what had been approved in a previous draft budget.

Many blame the Taylor Swift concerts for extra long lines at the Blaine border crossings for drivers heading into the U.S. Some had to wait for hours at the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings on Monday. Long northbound lines were also reported on Saturday and Sunday as the concerts combined with a low Canadian dollar, making shopping in Canada cheaper for some Americans.

The BC Conservatives have turned on one of their own - 13 MLA’s are asking fellow Conservative Elenore Sturko to apologize to an ex-Vancouver Police Board member. They’ve sent a letter to Leader John Rustad saying Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba was a victim of ‘cancel culture.’ The Surrey-Cloverdale MLA says she thought it was appropriate for the Board to accept its vice-chair’s resignation following comm...

Expect traffic chaos in and around downtown Vancouver - that’s the warning as the Taylor Swift concerts combine with a Friday night Canucks game, six weekend Cirque du Soleil shows and the Vancouver Christmas Market at Jack Poole Plaza this weekend. People are being encouraged to walk, bike or take public transit to avoid jammed streets. A number of downtown road closures and passenger zones will...

A Taiwanese company has pulled the plug on plans to build a $1B battery plant in Maple Ridge. Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby attended last year’s announcement, promising a combined $285 million in government funding to help kickstart construction of the lithium-ion battery cell plant. Now the plant’s parent company, Taiwan Cement, says Canadian plans have been put on hold...

A young man from North Vancouver is one of two people charged in a failed murder plot in California. The 25-year-old, along with a co-accused from Ontario, are in custody after three people were stabbed at a home in Monterey County - all are expected to survive despite suffering serious to critical injuries. Charges include attempted murder and conspiracy to commit attempted murder. The two suspec...

Blame the fog. Drivers around the Lower Mainland have been trying to navigate through thick fog since early Monday morning. One driver missed the curve on 8th Ave in Langley Monday evening, landing a car in the middle of a concrete barrier. Environment Canada’s continued its Weather Advisory saying the fog could continue through all of Tuesday morning.

Tragic news in the search for a Surrey teen who has been missing since Oct. 22. The body of 18-year-old Joseph Maku has been found in Delta. In a Facebook post, Maku’s sister says the discovery was made on Friday but it may be a long time before the cause of death is known. Neither Delta Police nor Surrey Police are commenting on the death. Investigators believe Maku boarded several buses between...

Expect to pay a lot more to use BC Ferries. Despite several government cash bailouts, BC Ferries says demand continues to grow and the fleet is being pushed to the limit. A 30 per cent increase in fares is possible. The cost of replacing ferries has increased 40 per cent since 2020. The provincial government imposed a temporary cap on fare increases last year after giving BC Ferries and additional...

A Metis society is questioning the status claims of the Liberal candidate in the Cloverdale-Langley City federal byelection. The Waceya Metis Society says it wants to distance itself from Madison Fleischer’s claims of Metis identity. The Waceya says it met with Fleischer over the weekend and is disappointed she could not provide any evidence to support her heritage. Fleischer now says she’s collec...

A missing hiker has been found alive in a provincial park north of Fort St. John, close to five weeks after he went missing. CBC News reports 20-year-old Sam Benastick was reported missing after he failed to return home from a 10-day camping trip back on Oct. 17. He was found by workers attending natural gas wells in the area. The RCMP have not yet commented on the case.

B.C. business leaders, including those with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, warn U.S. President-elect Donald Trumps promise to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports will have a serious impact on the province’s economy. Trump said he would slap the tariffs on Canada and Mexico on his first day in office. The reason - Trump says both countries have failed to stem the flow of illegal...

Some Chinese nationals blame the strike at Canada Post for a situation that’s left them stuck in Vancouver, waiting for critical documents. Stella Xing, a Chinese national who has been working in the U.S., tells CBC News her passport and work visa were approved last week but are now caught up in the mail. She says she travelled to Vancouver earlier this month to renew her documents. She’s one of s...