British Columbia News

Another hike in borrowing costs yesterday is likely to further soften Canada’s housing market, but a major think-tank says the slowdown in recent months won’t produce a “free fall” in demand.
The Bank of Canada raised interest rates another quarter point — the third such increase in three months — and the banks bumped up their [...]

Trevor Linden is about to take on basketball’s Steve Nash in the battle to get you fit. The former hockey player is also opening a health club in the Vancouver area — a 20,000-square-foot facility in Coquitlam that’s set to start operating in January 2011. He said monthly memberships will cost $15.

A film version of Mordecai Richler’s final novel will open this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, organizers announced yesterday.
Barney’s Version, directed by Richard J. Lewis and starring Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman, will run Sept. 30 during the festival’s opening gala.
The festival, which is celebrating its 29th year, will feature 137 premieres, including 12 world [...]

One of the nearly 500 migrants who arrived by ship in B.C. last month is being held on security grounds.
Investigators are trying to determine if he was a member of a Tamil Tigers delegation that collected money for humanitarian aid or a member of the media whose link to the terrorist organization was a factual [...]

The Red Bull 5,000 Down is a mass-start mountain bike race from the peak of Whistler Mountain to the village below, dropping about 5,000 feet (or 1,500 metres). Racers will compete for a $12,000 purse, with the top five men and top three women getting cash prizes.
Just how fast are they going?Racers will hit speeds [...]

Students who cheat may be showing themselves to be callous, Machiavellian psychopaths, says a study by a psychology professor at the University of B.C.
“Psychopathic students are more likely to plagiarize essays, while academically disadvantaged students are more likely to cheat on tests,” said Del Paulhus.
Paulhus added that psychopathic students have to be prevented from cheating [...]

A separated bike lane along Hornby Street, if approved by council in the fall, will be constructed during Vancouver’s rainy winter months — a time when bicycle trips in the city drop off precipitously.
Jerry Dobrovolny, the city’s director of transportation, said the number of cyclists on Vancouver’s roads depends more on weather than on season, [...]

B.C. researchers are urging gynecologists to remove a woman’s fallopian tubes during a hysterectomy or tubal ligation as a means of preventing ovarian cancer.
Researchers from the B.C. Cancer Agency and Vancouver General Hospital are asking all gynecologists in the province — and indeed across Canada — to change the standard surgical practice of leaving the [...]

Students were invited to play spontaneous games of Twister and signed up for Club Metro to be eligible to win a MINI Cooper or a Sony Xperia Mini cellphone. Events were also held at Simon Fraser University and BCIT.

Granville Island is famous for its farmers’ market and seafood restaurants, but it’s also home to a bustling artisan and arts community that welcomes visitors into its many shops and boutiques. Worth checking out is an innovative new craft and arts exhibit launching today, showcasing — of all things — luxury kimonos.
Artists Jessica de Haas [...]

Loud cellphone talkers, giant backpacks and wet umbrellas on seats are among the top pet peeves Metro readers shared over Twitter.
Elynn Ngu said it drives her nuts when people on the outside seat don’t get up or move when she tries to squeeze by.
Jeetinder Ghataurah said he’s irked by people with loud, annoying ring [...]

A pair of popular events brought in for the 100th edition of the Fair at PNE — including a Macy’s-style parade through the West End — will likely be dropped next season.
Laura Ballance, a spokeswoman for the PNE, said there are no plans to bring back the parade — a Vancouver tradition that was scrapped [...]

Actor Tom Hanks has written a letter in support of The Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, named after Vancouver doctor Peter Jepson-Young, who died of AIDS.
Vancouver is celebrating its first Dr. Peter Week Sept. 3 to 10.
“In 2010, we are all a better, more hopeful people thanks to Dr. Peter and his inspirational work,” Hanks [...]

Snowboardcross was the most hazardous sport at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, with nearly 75 per cent of female athletes sustaining injuries during the rough-and-tumble races, according to a medical study.
The report, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that at least 11 per cent of all athletes at the games in [...]

It was a deadly long weekend on the roads after six people were killed or seriously injured in local crashes.
Brian Wood, 33, from Vancouver was killed and his pregnant wife injured after their car was hit by a woman taking off her sweater while driving.
Two other people died in that accident.
A B.C. woman [...]

With the PNE wrapped up and the first onset of fall rains upon us, Vancouverites may feel inclined to mourn the end of summer. But September is full of great festivals and events. Here’s a quick look-ahead:
• The Vancouver International Fringe Festival starts Thursday and runs until Sept. 19.
• Davie Street will be closed [...]

SURREY, B.C. - Specialists are analyzing a Surrey, B.C. waste transfer station to identify a hazardous substance that made nine workers feel sick.
The Wastech plant was evacuated and fire and emergency services were called around 8:30 a.m. Monday after workers began complaining of difficulty breathing and irritation in the throat and nasal passages.
A supervisor from [...]

VANCOUVER - The B.C. Chamber of Commerce is dismissing a report from the CD Howe institute on how the harmonized sales tax will affect the province’s economy.
In documents released under a freedom of information request the institute suggested it may take five or more years for wages and jobs to recover from the HST.
But Chamber [...]

VANCOUVER - A spokesman for a Sikh group says it’s time North America’s oldest Sikh temple society modernized century-old traditions to prevent young people from joining gangs.
Jatinder Singh of Sikh Youth Vancouver says the Khalsa Diwan Society is stuck in old-school thinking that’s keeping youth away.
His group recently launched legal action against the society after [...]

BURNABY, B.C. - Simon Fraser University’s NCAA Division II debut got off to an ugly start.
The Clan were shut out by the Western Oregon University Wolves 38-0 on Saturday.
Quarterback AJ Robinson led the Wolves with a 261-yard, three-touchdown performance, while Trevor Gates caught two TDs and four receptions for 69 yards.
Justin Ore also grabbed four [...]

VANCOUVER - Julian Marchand threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns as the Alberta Golden Bears beat the UBC Thunderbirds 36-28 in Canadian university football action Saturday.
Hanging onto a 15-14 lead at the half, Alberta (1-0) scored 21 points in the third quarter.
Jess Valleau, Ryan Meraw and Ryley Richardson each caught touchdown passes in the [...]

SURREY, B.C. - RCMP are investigating the death of a pedestrian struck by a hit-and-run driver in Surrey, B.C.
Staff Sgt. Heather Stark said the incident occurred at about 1 a.m. Saturday and that the vehicle involved was heading eastbound on Fraser Highway.
Police don’t have a description of the vehicle but that its headlights may be [...]

VANCOUVER - The British Columbia government is demanding the manufacturer, operator and pilot of a hot air balloon that burst into flames three years ago, killing two people and injuring several others, pay the health-care bills associated with the crash.
The province filed the lawsuit this week in B.C. Supreme Court under a recent piece of [...]

VANCOUVER - Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) says it has reached a friendly deal to acquire Andean Resources for about C$3.6 billion, beating out rival Eldorado Gold Corp. which had just hours before announced its own acquisition proposal for the U.S. company.
Goldcorp’s announcement came early Friday, shortly after Eldorado (TSX:ELD) made a renwed $3.4-billion merger offer of [...]

VANCOUVER - A luxury highrise tower in downtown Vancouver was swarmed by police Thursday night after a call about an assault on one of the top floors.
Vancouver Police Insp. Rick McKenna says the Emergency Response Team was sent to the Shangri-La building after a man well-known to them called police to say he was being [...]

The grinning man with greying hair darts backwards as a black bear playfully paws at a green pail the man is hoisting before slopping out food for two of the hungry beasts.
“Hi, my name is Allen. I’m the guy in Christina Lake who’s been feeding the bears,” said Allen Piche in a video posted [...]

Some Vancouver hotel workers rallied on Thursday against their employers’ green program saying it’s cutting down their hours.
They protested in front of the Westin Bayshore Hotel downtown.
The “Make a Green Choice” program, which was implemented earlier this summer, offers hotel guests a $5-voucher toward food and drinks if they forgo housekeeping services for [...]

Whitecaps FC did not have to search far to find the man to lead their squad into its inaugural MLS season.
On Thursday, the team announced that Whitecaps FC coach Teitur Thordarson would continue at the helm in the 2011 season, the team’s first in Major League Soccer.
Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi praised the 58-year-old Icelander for [...]

TransLink is reminding Vancouverites to give themselves extra time to get around next week as transit is expected to be packed with back-to-school and back-to-work commuters.
“The first couple of weeks of September are traditionally the busiest times for public transportation in Metro Vancouver,” said TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie.
“Class-time service” will return on most routes [...]

More than two-thirds of British Columbians say they’ve curbed their spending because of the HST, according to an Angus Reid poll released on Thursday.
Nearly 90 per cent of people in B.C. said they found dining out has become more expensive, and 67 per cent said their basic groceries had become pricier.
Sixty-three per cent said the [...]

It has also brought out the critics — many of whom have taken aim at the Olympic Village.
The controversial $1.1-billion development should’ve been an easy sell due to its breathtaking waterfront location and attention to environmental design, but many units sit unsold.
Taxpayers despise the cost to build the project — and point most [...]

VANCOUVER - The man behind a petition to kill the harmonized sales tax in B.C. is calling for the resignations of Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen after the release of new documents about the tax.
Former Premier Bill Vander Zalm says the documents, released under a freedom of information request, show the government [...]

Vancouver residents can get a sneak peek at a proposed separated bicycle lane along Hornby Street.
The city posted detailed block-to-block diagrams and images of the proposed route on its website on Thursday and announced a second open house to give people the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a [...]

Vancouver could be in for its third real estate bubble burst in 50 years, according to a study released yesterday.
Falling home sales suggest people cannot afford to pay more for housing, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report says.
In a worst-case scenario, Vancouver homeowners could see a 20 per cent depreciation in their properties [...]

A pipeline to bring oil from Alberta’s tar sands to B.C.’s North Coast is a threat to the environment, Greenpeace’s B.C. director said at a rally in Vancouver yesterday.
“We need the federal government to stand up for our best interest,” said Stephanie Goodwin, as she also called for a ban on oil tankers off [...]

As the bear hunt in the Lower Mainland kicks off for fall, various groups purporting to have the animals’ best interest at heart are squaring off over the ecological ethics the hunt.
Faisal Moola, science and conservation director at the David Suzuki Foundation, said grizzly bears in particular are listed as threatened and legislation should [...]