B.C. teachers vote in favour of strike
VANCOUVER The majority of teachers across British Columbia are in favour of strike action. Results released late Wednesday showed that of 32,209 votes cast, 27,946 teachers — or 87 per cent — support escalating their limited job action to a full-scale walkout. Since September, teachers have been skipping administrative tasks in an attempt to get [...]
Canada’s smallest city has world’s best water
VANCOUVER Greenwood, B.C, residents can now say they have the best tap water in the world, according to an international water tasting competition. Greenwood Mayor Nipper Kettle sent a sample of the city’s municipal drinking water to the Berkley Springs International Water Tasting 22nd annual competition in West Virginia. It won top prize: the coveted [...]
B.C. legislation to remove teacher’s right to strike
VANCOUVER B.C.’s 40,000 teachers have been granted the right to strike by the Labour Relations Board, but the government has introduced legislation that could take away that right and impose a six-month cooling-off period and a mediator to settle the contract dispute. The rapidly developing situation has left many parents wondering whether they will have [...]
B.C. health care, education see modest budget increases
VANCOUVER There will be no major increase in health care spending according to three-year fiscal plan outlined in the provincial budget tabled by Finance Minister Kevin Falcon on Tuesday. Health care spending in B.C. will increase an average 3.2 per cent per year over the next three years — a total of $1.5 billion over [...]
Vancouver Stanley Cup rioter gets 17 months in jail
VANCOUVER Ryan Dickinson has become first person to be sentenced in Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup riot, getting 17 months for throwing a newspaper box onto a police car windshield and smashing a store window. The sentence was handed down Thursday in Vancouver. Crown prosecutors had asked the court for a sentence as long as 18 [...]
Vancouverites say volunteeing part of being good citizen
VANCOUVER Vancouverites seem to place more importance on volunteering as a part of being a good citizen than other Canadians, a recent Environics Institute survey suggests. A group made up of five national organizations — CBC, the Environics Institute, Maytree, The Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the RBC Foundation — commissioned the public opinion poll, [...]
2 small earthquakes rattle Vancouver Island
VANCOUVER A 4.7-magnitude earthquake shivered across northern Vancouver Island around 10:30 p.m. PT Wednesday, the second to strike the region in two days. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicentre of the latest earthquake struck off the coast about 145 kilometres west of Ucluelet, but there were no reports of any damage. A day [...]
Former Vancouver councillor Jim Green seriously ill
VANCOUVER Former Vancouver councillor, mayoralty candidate and long-time housing activist Jim Green is seriously ill with cancer. Friend and councillor Geoff Meggs says Green is battling a recurrence of the lung cancer he had two years ago. A release sent on behalf of Green’s family from Mayor Gregor Robertson’s office says Green’s cancer is spreading. [...]