Good morning and welcome to your edition of Sunrise. |
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Result still on knife edge as some races remain undecided
B.C.’s election outcome is still undecided after two recounts and a count of mail-in and assisted telephone ballots failed to decide a handful of races over the weekend.
A recount in Surrey City Centre completed on Sunday had the NDP’s Amna Shah with a 175-vote lead over the Conservatives’ Zeeshan Wahla. That’s approximately the same number of absentee ballots left to be counted on Monday.
Meanwhile, a recount in Kelowna Centre had the Conservatives’ Kristina Loewen leading the NDP’s Loyal Wooldridge by 68 votes, with an estimated 228 absentee ballots left to count.
Another recount in Juan de Fuca-Malahat on Vancouver Island is expected to be completed on Monday.
The closest undecided riding in the province is now Surrey-Guildford, where the NDP’s Garry Begg, who has represented the riding since 2017, has cut the lead of B.C. Conservative Honveer Randhawa to 12 votes from 102, pushing a third riding below the threshold for an automatic recount.
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North Vancouver declares state of local emergency, three homes evacuated after heavy rain
The District of North Vancouver has declared a state of local emergency and ordered three homes evacuated in the Deep Cove neighbourhood over concerns debris left behind from last weekend’s atmospheric river could pose a safety risk.
Driving the news: A statement late Saturday from the district says that during the heavy rain, debris filled the channels of Ostler and Panorama Creeks “limiting their capacity to withstand future heavy rainfall events.”
• The district says it’s ordering the evacuations out of an abundance of caution after geotechnical consultants advised that the extent of debris could pose a “life safety risk” to adjacent properties.
You should know: The District of North Vancouver was hit with 350 millimetres of rain last weekend and six properties were initially ordered evacuated, but those orders were lifted on Friday.
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• Three people were hospitalized after a stabbing early Saturday at a restaurant inside New Westminster’s Starlight Casino, where police responded to a fight between two groups wielding edged weapons. One person was arrested with witness help, and police are seeking additional suspects and any mobile footage of the incident.
• A man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Mehakpreet Sethi outside Tamanawis Secondary School in Surrey on November 22, 2022. The accused, who was a 17-year-old at the time, was arrested after being identified by witnesses and was initially charged with second-degree murder.
• Tracy Obsniuk, a library assistant and single mother, has been granted a hearing with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, alleging that the Greater Victoria Public Library Board discriminated against her by imposing a schedule conflicting with her child care needs and refusing reasonable accommodation. The tribunal found that the library may not have fully explored accommodation options before requiring Obsniuk to either work the new schedule, take unpaid leave, or accept a lower-paid on-call position.
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“We’re dealing with very sophisticated, I’ll say adversaries, who are constantly evolving in terms of the markets they’re pursuing. They’re constantly evolving in terms of their means of concealment. And so the challenge that we have is to work with partners to do our best to keep ahead of that.” |
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Paige MacPherson: B.C.’s new 'descriptive' grading has parents yearning for A, B, C's
According to a new poll, the vast majority of parents in British Columbia easily understood letter grades on their children’s report cards but are now confused by the provincial government’s new “descriptive” grading in schools.
In September 2023, despite overwhelming opposition from British Columbians, the Eby government replaced letter grades — A, B, C, D, etc. — on K-9 report cards with a “proficiency scale,” which includes the descriptive terms “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient” and “extending.” If these four terms seem confusing to you, and make you miss the old letter grades, you’re not alone.
According to the poll (commissioned by the Fraser Institute and conducted by Leger), 91 per cent of B.C. parents said the letter grade “A” was “clear and easy” to understand while 84 per cent said the same for “C.” (For the sake of brevity, the poll only asked respondents about these two letter grades.)
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Victoria condo owners seek compensation for property-value drop due to new rental rules
Owners of 22 former short-term rental units in Victoria have filed nine lawsuits against the province, arguing legislation banning short-term rentals amounts to expropriation of their units, and owners are owed compensation.
The lawsuits were filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. in Victoria last week.
Provincial rules banning most short-term rentals unless they are in an owner’s principal residence came into effect May 1, prompting an outcry from owners of condo units used for vacation rentals. Many bought their units as investments or to generate income when they were allowed to offer short-term rentals through online platforms such as Airbnb.
The province announced the legislation in 2023, saying it would help to alleviate the provincewide shortage of affordable housing.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD |
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