LIVE B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
Scotland's leader has defended a ban on nonessential travel between the country and the northwest English city of Manchester after its mayor lambasted the decision and called for compensation.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Monday that the ban on people from Manchester and nearby Salford entering Scotland was made on public health grounds based on COVID-19 levels in the area. Although Scotland is part of the U.K., its government has powers over matters relating to public health.
New coronavirus infections around the Greater Manchester area are running higher than most places in the U.K., which in the midst of what scientists describe as a third wave of infections as a result of the delta variant first identified in India. Another 10,633 new cases were recorded on Monday, one of the highest daily levels since February, when the U.K.'s second wave of new infections and deaths was coming under control during a strict lockdown.
Recent surveys suggest about 1 in 200 people in the Greater Manchester area have had the virus, three times higher than the rates of infection in Scotland.
“These are public health measures,” Sturgeon told the BBC. “I have a duty, and it's one I take very seriously, to keep Scotland as safe as possible.”
Andy Burnham, the Labour Party mayor of Greater Manchester, said the ban, which took effect Monday, was “insulting” and had “come out of the blue.” He said he thinks the Scottish government should compensate those who will suffer financially from the ban.
“It's not just the direct impact on Greater Manchester, it's on our reputation as a city,” he said. “It's had an impact with people with holiday cottages booked, people who are having to go for work reasons.”
Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party that wants to take Scotland out of the U.K., countered by suggesting that Burnham, one of the highest-profile politicians in the opposition Labour Party, was playing politics.
“I've always got on well with Andy Burnham and if he wants to have a grown-up conversation, he only has to pick up the phone. But if, as I suspect might be the case, this is more about generating a spat with me as part of some positioning in a Labour leadership contest in future, then I'm not interested,” Sturgeon said.
“I'm serious about doing that job in a way that keeps Scotland as safe as I possibly can,” she added.
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.