British Columbia News

“This committee can't interfere with a private sector-led process that is ongoing.”

Disgruntled retail investors in Canada's frozen asset-backed commercial paper market will have a chance to air their concerns to politicians at special hearings set to begin this week, legislators said on ... via Globeinvestor.com

Ex Nihilo Vineyards, in Okanagan Centre north of Kelowna, will be producing a limited release of an icewine labelled in honour of the Stones' hit Sympathy for the Devil. via The Globe and Mail

The body of one of three children murdered in Merritt, B.C. is taken out of a home. via 680News

“I think that's because we've made a really concentrated effort with outreach. We've housed almost 300 people in the past two, 21/2 years, and put them into permanent housing.”

Homelessness continues to increase across Metro Vancouver, especially in the suburbs, according to preliminary numbers from the latest homeless count announced today. via National Post

“All the anti-polygamists were feeling Wally Oppal was our last hope. But I don't think he is any more determined to sort out the issue than any other attorney-general has been. He is definitely stalling”

An undated photo shows Debbie Palmer, a former member of the fundamentalist Mormon community in Bountiful, B.C., with her 57-year-old husband. via National Post

- BC Ferries has fired one of its captains after a ferry en route to Victoria had a close call with a freighter last month.

BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall says the Spirit of British Columbia came within 180 metres of a vessel at the narrow entrance to Active Pass between Mayne Island and Gabriola Island on March 17.

She says the two vessels had been in contact and planned to pass each other outside the pass on the west side of the Strait of Georgia but they miscalculated their speed. Read more

“From time to time you will read, Zimbabweans are this and Zimbabweans are that here in Canada because the government went and picked them out (white farmers) and put them here, now you have a sizable community.”

- White farmers who fled Zimbabwe for Canada years ago have influenced Canadian policy against the Mugabe government, says Zimbabwe's ambassador in Ottawa.

"Of course they are sympathetic to the opposition," Florence Zano Chideya said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "We have a lot of whites that come here because of the land dispute."

In 2000, supporters of President Robert Mugabe began confiscating white-owned land for redistribution to black farmers, often without compensation. Many displaced farmers fled to places all over the world, including Canada. Read more

"To say that Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers have been involved in a number of controversial incidents is to put it mildly. via Flying Hamster

- A judge has decided a date for serial killer Robert Pickton's second murder trial won't be set until after the appeals process for his previous six convictions is finished.

Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm ruled today that because Pickton is already in prison serving a maximum sentence, concerns about ensuring he has a speedy second trial aren't as worrisome.

Pickton still faces murder charges in the deaths of 20 women, most of them prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, but both the Crown and defence have filed appeals of his earlier convictions. Read more

Canfor Corp. is again taking an axe to production, citing falling demand and poor pricing for softwood lumber with no signs the market will recover any time soon. via The Globe and Mail

The B.C. government is again being urged to ask the B.C. Court of Appeal to decide whether Canada's criminal laws against polygamy are constitutionally valid and able to withstand a court challenge on the ... via CTV.ca

“On Saturday, he came up to the fence and talked to me and asked me what I did. I told him and he had some questions about that.”

The father of three children found slain in their British Columbia home had been arrested at the local school last week and charged with making threats, say RCMP. via 900 CHML AM

“I did my job with a lot of integrity, and a lot of pride”

A former U.S. border guard convicted of letting drugs into the U.S. in exchange for sex from a British Columbian prostitute has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison. via The Seattle Times

- More than 1,700 boil water advisories are in effect in communities across the country.

That's the finding, which excludes advisories on First Nations territories, of a report in the May edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Most are in effect for small, municipal water systems in such far-flung communities as Bay Roberts, N.L., and Wallaceburg, Ont., to Victoria Beach, Man., Tilley, Alta., and Sullivan Bay, B.C.

Boil-water advisories are public-health warnings that tap or well water is unsafe to drink without boiling due to bacterial or other contamination. Read more

“Guys will bend ... the lids or use rocks to pry them open”

The private information of dozens of British Columbians was unearthed from a dumpster in downtown Vancouver and turned over to CTV News over the weekend. via Vancouver Television

“I want to see the growth. I definitely do. We need that to survive. But we need to really step back and make sure it's for the longer term.”

A string of new, 50s-style cottages with cheerfully shaded shingles line the southeast shore of Osoyoos Lake, a long finger lake straddling the U.S.-Canada border. via The Journal News

“I am still in shock ... I keep expecting him to come home.”

Tearful family and friends yesterday mourned the passing of three A.D. Williams Engineering executives who died March 28 in a plane crash near Wainwright. via CANOE

“Him and his wife have been fighting in the past here”

Three children under the age of 10 were found murdered Sunday in Merritt, B.C., RCMP have confirmed. via 102.9 CKDS-FM

“This is simply the reaction to runaway price inflation over the last couple of years”

Homeowners and homebuyers can expect prices to keep on rising in the months ahead, but at a slower pace, the head of Royal LePage Real Estate Services says. via Slam Sports

“That's the heart of the matter and it's sure not a new theme.”

John Les seemed genuinely surprised when he learned a special prosecutor was investigating allegations he and other officials may have profited from land transactions while he was mayor of Chilliwack, B.C., in ... via Orleans Star / Weekly Journal