BC Hydro crews have restored power to 97 thousand people who lost power Monday night following a wind, rain and snowstorm that swept through the region. But, the power authority says about eight-thousand customers were still without power as of Wednesday afternoon. It says most of them were in Duncan, which was one of the hardest-hit areas. It says BC Hydro crews and contractor crews will continue to work around the clock until power for all customers is restored.
BC’s Opposition house leader Todd Stone says he is concerned about the lack of a clear timeline by the NDP government for the rebuilding of Lytton. The province confirmed last week that archeologists had found more than seven-thousand stone artifacts – some dating back as much as 75 hundred years – and that ancestral remains were also identified in four locations within the village. Stone says that First Nations, residents and the public are still in the dark about how government is handling this process and what the archeological discoveries will mean for those desperate to rebuild their homes. Lytton residents rallied last week in protest of repeated delays to rebuild their community more than two years after a devastating wildfire tore through the village in June 2021.
Officials at Matsqui Institution in the Fraser Valley say an inmate was injured in an assault. A statement from the medium-security federal prison says the man was evaluated by staff members and transported to an outside hospital to receive treatment. The prison says Abbotsford police and the institution are both investigating and those responsible have been identified. It says no staff members were injured and the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances of the incident and take the appropriate measures.
Metro Vancouver’s regional transit and transportation system says it’s facing a 4.7-billion-dollar funding shortfall over the next decade, and without help it could be forced to cut service by as much as 60 per cent. The financial update was presented in a report to the TransLink Mayors’ Council yesterday that warns of dire consequences as transit ridership surges and commuters face increasing congestion. The report says 2.8-billion dollars of the shortfall is related to lower fare and fuel tax revenues. It says 1.8-billion dollars relates to higher expenses – including 839-million dollars attributable to inflation and wage growth – and another 408 million dollars to operate the new SkyTrain expansions, while increased debt servicing costs represents about 459 million dollars.
Mounties in Kelowna say two people have been arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run in the city’s Rutland neighbourhood last weekend. Police previously said a pedestrian was struck Saturday afternoon and later died. They said officers believe it is connected to an earlier incident where police responded to a complaint of a group of teens using bear spray on people. RCMP say both people they arrested have been released from custody but the incident is still being investigated.
A Vancouver city councillor wants more than triple the number of speed and red-light cameras at the city’s intersections as a way of preventing fatal crashes. ICBC data says that, for the past five years, there have been an average of 22 crashes that cause injury or death per day on Vancouver’s streets. Councillor Christine Boyle says there are 107 dangerous intersections that she would like to see prioritized. Her motion, which is coming to council on Wednesday, says the 43 cameras currently operating in the city have proven to be a cost effective way of improving safety. Though the City of Vancouver does not currently have the authority to install these cameras, the motion asks the mayor to write to the province and ask for more cameras to be installed and to request that municipal governments be given the authority to install these cameras at their own expense and collect the fines that result from infractions