Experts planning the rescue of a killer whale calf out of a remote lagoon off northern Vancouver Island say the process will be complicated and there is still lots of organizing to do before they are ready to act. Fisheries Department officials, the area’s Ehattesaht First Nation and marine mammal rescue experts are meeting daily about the calf, but are now convinced the only way to save it is to capture and move it from the long tidal lagoon to the ocean. Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal co-ordinator with the Fisheries Department, says the current plan is to transport the orca onto a sling, into a vessel, drive it to the ocean, and place it in a pen until its pod passes. The calf has been stranded near Little Espinosa Inlet near Zaballos since March 23, when its pregnant mother became trapped on a rocky beach at low tide and died.
BC’s transportation ministry says it is implementing a new law that will give cyclists and pedestrians added protection on roads. It says the changes, which come into effect on June 3rd, establish a new minimum distance of one metre that drivers must maintain when passing cyclists and other so-called vulnerable road users. The ministry says that distance increases to 1.5 meters on highways with a posted speed limit above 50 kilometres per hour. The province says the amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act will enhance road safety and aims to promote the transition toward increased active transportation and cleaner transportation technologies.
BC’s premier says the task force on emergencies that the province launched last fall in response to the catastrophic wildfire season has provided 31 recommendations. Eby says the province is already taking these suggestions in stride, announcing a new training and education centre for wildfire fighters that will be established at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. He says the costs of implementing the recommendations or establishing the new training centre haven’t been determined. Eby says other recommendations from the task force include increasing the use of new technology to predict fire behaviour, expanding wildfire training and prevention programs, improving local response co-ordination with local and municipal fire departments, and providing more timely, accessible information to residents.
BC’s finance ministry says more than two million residents will see more money in their bank accounts this week from the climate action tax credit. It says that starting in July, a family of four that has been receiving 890-dollars annually will see their payments increase to more than a thousand dollars a year, while individuals who were receiving 447-dollars will collect 504-dollars. The ministry says about 65 per cent of people in BC will receive money back through the tax credit. It says the credit will increase annually with the goal of 80 per cent of people and families getting the credit by 2030.
West Shore RCMP say 53 people have been taken off the road for impaired driving in the first three months of the year. Police say 19 of those drivers this year were caught in March. They say 49 of them have been charged, while the final four have charges pending against them. Mounties say this marks a 17 per cent increase from the same time period last year, where 45 drivers were caught.
Police in Victoria say they have arrested a 65 year old man for allegedly exposing himself to a 12 year old girl he was seated next to on a bus. They say in a news release that officers targeted the man as part of a surveillance project after receiving a tip that he was committing indecent acts on BC Transit buses. Police say officers saw him commit the act on March 28th while he was next to the girl and arrested him as he attempted to leave the bus. They say the man has been charged with one count of committing an indecent act and one count of exposing genitalia to a minor, and remains in custody awaiting his next court appearance.