At-risk or potentially vulnerable first-time families will get a better chance for a healthier start in life for mom and baby with a new nurse home-visitation program. Healthy Start will focus public health resources from the second trimester of pregnancy to the child’s second birthday for young, low-income, first-time mothers. The $23-million Healthy Start initiative […]

by Dermod Travis BC premier Christy Clark once called the way Gordon Campbell imposed the HST as “sneaky.” Little did British Columbians know at the time, but they hadn’t even seen anything yet when it came to sneaky. With close to 3.5 million ballots being mailed to voters this week, strategists with the BC Liberal […]

B.C.’s new Clean Technology Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Mines, MLA John Yap, will consult with industry on how to improve B.C.’s low carbon fuel requirements. This will help B.C. grow the market for low carbon fuel, creating jobs and opportunities throughout the province. It is expected the province will become more […]

Surrey RCMP estimate that approximately 4,000 hockey fans attended the Central City Plaza in City Centre on Saturday night to watch the live television broadcast of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The event continues to be a family-friendly affair providing an opportunity for local fans to come together and cheer on the Vancouver […]

Amendments to the Province’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which make the inhumane treatment of animals a violation in B.C., are now law. The legislation will also make it a provincial offence to harm or attempt to harm a law enforcement animal. Currently, police in British Columbia use both horses and dogs to assist […]

Five new integrated cancer care centres, including a virtual one in Vancouver to serve rural and remote parts of British Columbia, will open as part of Healthy Families BC. Expansion of InspireHealth, which has operated a Vancouver centre since 1997, will improve cancer care delivery and help patients learn about the many ways they can […]

The New Democratic Party of BC has initiated the first step in the creation of a poverty reduction plan that will put children and families first.   “Seven other provinces and territories have either committed to or have enacted a poverty reduction strategy, yet despite having the highest poverty rate in Canada, the B.C. Liberals […]

Edmonton Oiler Gilbert Brule and his girlfriend picked up an unusual hitchhiker in West Vancouver on Tuesday — U2 frontman Bono, The Vancouver Province reported. Brule and girlfriend Kelsey Nichols were driving to a park to walk Bella, their German shepherd, on Tuesday afternoon near the West Vancouver Yacht Club when they spotted a couple […]

First Nations in British Columbia passed a historic resolution to assume greater control and decision-making over their health and wellness. 146 of the 167 Chiefs and representatives in attendance (87%) voted in favour of the resolution which will make BC First Nations the first in Canada to take over health service delivery from the federal […]

Talk about dangling the carrot. The Province is proposing to reduce the total HST rate to 10 per cent from 12 per cent in two stages, cutting the provincial portion by one percentage point to six per cent from seven per cent on July 1, 2012, and a further one percentage point reduction would take […]