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British Columbia Harry had a large UFO incident which took place on August 31, 2008 at approximately 1:30 a.m. when he was on a week's holiday. All of a sudden the object jumped from a stationary position it appeared to rise up and drop down again. He said the object went from a stop, then made about a 20 foot jump into the air in a split second, it jumped again and this time it made an estimated jump of approximately 50 to 60 feet and then it kept jumping at greater distances.

Having tolls removed from a major route in British Columbia, Canada, has taken some of the sting out of the cost of operating a trucking business in that province, but there’s still plenty of sting to go around. In late September, the government removed a $20 truck toll and $10 passenger vehicle toll from the Coquihalla Highway, which connects the city of Hope to Kamloops, B.C., in the Canadian West. Provincial officials said that truckers were pleased with the move, and they were. “Given the price of fuel, truckers are very happy with this,” Bridgitte Anderson, spokeswoman for British Columbia...

Bear jumps on boat, mauls man Published Thursday September 11th, 2008 A7 By SCOTT SUTHERLAND The Canadian Press VICTORIA - Salmon fishermen are no longer throwing fish guts on shore for black bears around Port Renfrew, B.C. after one climbed onto a dock, jumped into a man's boat and mauled him. "All the bears in Port Renfrew are pretty docile," said fire Chief Dan Tennant. "They're more afraid of people than people are of them and normally turn and high-tail it when they see people.'' He said he first thought the bear attack call received by his department and an...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Canada is a cultural dichotomy. We are a collection of very singular and – dare I say? – distinct peoples who have very little in common, yet are feebly tied together through pseudo-patriotic themes such as beer commercials and donut shops. Confederation, that wonderfully impossible concept of complete and total Canadian national unity, has never worked and never will. One trip to a different part of the country proves that unequivocally. That is what became apparent to me during my camping venture in British Columbia.....

Parents seek to stop candy throwing at parades Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.   DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.The campaign in Dawson Creek is the latest effort by people concerned about children bolting into the parade to scoop up the sweets. Efforts to end candy tossing have been adopted in Kamloops, Prince George and Fort St. John.A Fort St. John town council member and parade marshal, Larry Evans, says float drivers...

How are thing? I mean, really – how are things going for you? I’ve been hearing some…well, disturbing things lately and I just wanted to touch base and see if you were okay.....

 Human rights complaint over comic's lesbian remarksUpdated Thu. Jun. 26 2008 11:13 PM ETCTV.ca News StaffA Toronto comedian facing a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing says offensive comments he made to two Vancouver lesbians were simply an attempt to stop them from heckling him on stage."I don't hate anybody based on their sexual orientation, or whatever, but I do hate hecklers and sometimes I get a little vehement," Guy Earle says in a radio interview posted on YouTube.Earle said he was hosting a weekly open-mic night in a restaurant on March 22, 2007 when the two women moved up...

Turbaned Sikhs in B.C. contest mandatory hard hat rule at sawmill Posted by Michael Rollins, The Oregonian April 01, 2008 06:59AM   Kalwant Singh Sahota Sikhs in Canada have won several key battles over religious attire. For example, Sikhs can wear turbans instead of the familiar Royal Canadian Mounted Police hats. But what about a sawmill? Isn't this easily a safety issue? It might be, except the two Sikhs who filed a human rights complaints have been working there for years without hard hats and have suddenly been required to don them. The Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan is expert...

  Sturgeon goes on and on   Reel-y big ... Nick and George with their monster catch  Published: Today       TWO British anglers got a reel shock while boat fishing in Canada – when they caught a TEN FOOT long sturgeon. Nick Calleya, 36, and George Carstairs, 42, took an hour to land the 500lb fish – thought to be more than 100 years old. Nick, of Cubert, Cornwall, and George, of Aberdeen, caught it on Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Nick said: “It was so strong it was lifting George off his seat.”

Driving 11 miles over the speed limit cost one driver more than a quarter-million dollars this weekend — at least for now. A State Patrol trooper spotted a Honda Accord speeding southbound on Interstate 5 on Friday, according to State Patrol spokesman Jeff Merrill. It was raining, and the driver was cruising down the freeway at 71 mph. So the trooper pulled the driver over, Merrill said. The 35-year-old from British Columbia, who had a valid driver's license, struggled to tell the trooper where he was going and how long he had been in Washington, prompting the trooper to search...

The insistence of a Washington state couple that they have a right to build a four-foot concrete wall along 80 feet of the 1,270-mile-long U.S.-Canada boundary in the West has cost a U.S. member of the International Joint Commission his job, according to reports appearing last week in the Canadian news media. If the incident did nothing else, it gave Canadians (prone always to accept the dicta of officialdom) an inkling of how things work on the other side of the border. Apparently, it all started because Herbert and Shirley Ann Leu of Blaine, Wash., couldn't prevent dogs escaping from...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, as Schwarzenegger wrapped up a three-day visit to Canada. The pact, known as the Pacific Coast Collaborative to Protect Our Shared Climate and Oceans, commits the two jurisdictions to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work on the development and implementation of clean technologies, but is not legally binding. The deal commits both areas to work together to protect the waters off the Pacific coast of North America, a significant portion of...

Juanita Neidrauer got into the alpaca and llama business to feed her gentle art of weaving and spinning. Little did she know that six of her native South American animals would meet a violent end, victims of a male grizzly bear's one-night killing rampage on B.C.'s central coast. "What alpacas and llamas do, if there is a danger, they run towards it," explained Neidrauer, a 68-year-old resident of Hagensborg in the Bella Coola Valley. "They sort of attack it." That tactic might work in the high reaches of the Andes. But on the grizzly-laden B.C. coast? Not so much. "They...

A Canadian who served in an elite U.S. army unit was charged in a Washington bank heist and hopes to use his newfound notoriety to draw attention to atrocities he says he witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Luke Elliott Sommer, 20, is under house arrest in Peachland, B.C., where he is on bail and living with his parents and two-year-old son. Federal prosecutors in Washington state allege he was the ringleader of five masked men who stormed a Bank of America branch in Tacoma in August. The suspects were armed with pistols and AK-47s and stole US$50,000. A handful of...

Tribunal to rule on guide dog vs. religion Jane Seyd jseyd@nsnews.com A case potentially pitting rights of the disabled against religious beliefs will be heard by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after a blind man from the North Shore who uses a guide dog to get around launched a complaint against North Shore Taxi. Bruce Gilmour filed the complaint after a cab driver from North Shore Taxi refused to let his guide dog into the cab in January of this year. Gilmour, who says it's not the first time he's been refused service by a taxicab, is complaining that...

Canada's nationalized health-care system, admired by the left all over the world and deplored by the right all over Canada, took another hit last week. The Canadian Medical Association, long its unfailing supporter, suddenly turned against it. The CMA elected as president Dr. Brian Day, a Vancouver surgeon and one-time supporter of state medicine, who is now an outspoken critic of Canada's "Medicare" system. In fact, he runs the largest private clinic in the country, offering an array of surgical procedures to people prepared to pay for them. In doing so, he challenges the Canada Health Act, which prohibits for-profit...

B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $10 million in unpaid medical bills by hundreds of foreigners who have obtained hospital care in this province. He is urging health authorities to "look at every angle" for new methods to recover monies owed by those who have skipped out on paying. "B.C. is not a destination that is in the habit of providing free health care for the rest of the world. We have lots of demands for medical services by B.C. citizens, let alone serving the rest of the world," said Abbott. The health...

VANCOUVER, June 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexual teacher and his same-sex partner who launched a human rights complaint with the British Columbia government have settled with the Government of British Columbia. According to the homosexual activist who launched a human rights suit, homosexual issues will soon be a mandatory part of school curricula taught in classrooms throughout the province, without the ability of students or parents to opt out. BC's Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Attorney-General agreed to review the province's curricula to ensure that the issue of homosexuality is included in all so-called 'social justice' discussions...

SEATTLE (AP) - The federal judge who sentenced an Algerian terrorist to 22 years in prison for attempting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium wildly abused his discretion, said prosecutors who had sought a much longer sentence. Customs agents in Port Angeles, Wash., caught Ahmed Ressam, 38, with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999. The scare prompted the cancellation of millennium celebrations at Seattle's Space Needle. At Ressam's sentencing last summer, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour used the opportunity...

VICTORIA -- The controversial issue of polygamy and its links with a religious commune at Bountiful in B.C.'s Kootenay mountain region has produced a rare political alliance. The provincial Liberal government and Opposition New Democrats are saying they want to help women escape Bountiful. But the newly elected federal Conservatives appear to be adopting a hands-off approach to the community where allegations of child brides, sexual assaults and immigration scams abound. A spokesman for Kootenay-Columbia Conservative MP Jim Abbott said there is nothing new to say about Bountiful, which is located in his riding.

Updated Mon. Jan. 16 2006 11:41 PM ET With one week remaining before the election, the Conservatives have unleashed their own vicious television ad, but this time the target is Jack Layton and his New Democrat Party. The Tories have taken aim at Layton in the commercial, charging among other things that he is in favour of higher gas prices and legalizing drugs. The ad features a Jack Layton-style moustache and mouth digitally placed over the mouths of Canadians, with a male voice speaking. "I support legalized drugs," says the voice, speaking for a mother with her young child. "Who...

Handgun ban proposal draws more than 400 (Ron Gray, Christian Heritage Party candidate, questions Conservative candidate Chuck Strahl during a meeting at the Best Western Wednesday. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS) By Robert Freeman The Progress Jan 13 2006 It was billed as a non-partisan event to send a message to “whoever wins” the Jan. 23 federal election. But Conservative MP Chuck Strahl, who’s running for re-election in the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding, clearly reaped the political benefits as guest speaker at a “special action” meeting called by the Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association in response to the handgun ban proposed by...

Given the incessant anti-Americanism from a majority opf Canadian people who are geographically unequally distributed, I'm thinking of proposals of dividing Canada into several regions so as to let the right-minded people able to control their own destiny, and more importantly for the US, to make it impossible for sworn enemies of the US to be able to control the giant landmass and hold Uncle Sam hostage ever again. I'm thinking of dividing Canada into several regions: 1) Coastal BC: they are American-style leftists. Either allow an independent nation or produce an ultimatum - move to Souther Ontario. 2) Interior...

An undercover informant helped investigators tape a conversation with one of the seven...radical environmentalists accused in a series of arson attacks and other crimes... Existence of the informant was disclosed last week by an investigator in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., during a bail hearing for Daniel McGowan, 31, who faces indictments that he and another man firebombed the office of a wood products mill in Glendale and the office and truck shop of a tree farm in Clatskanie in 2001. The Earth Liberation Front, an underground group that advocates economic sabotage to stop environmental destruction, took credit for...

Tories failing to make gains in Ontario, B.C. Three main parties virtually tied in Ontario, poll finds Chris Wattie, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 Canada's two biggest battlegrounds are proving treacherous for the Conservative party in the early days of the federal election. The Tories' hopes of gaining ground in British Columbia and Ontario -- where the Jan. 23 election is likely to be decided -- have yet to be rewarded, according to a new public opinion poll. While Conservative leader Stephen Harper has found support in the belt of suburban ridings surrounding Toronto, he is still struggling...

VANCOUVER — A transsexual who was fired by B.C. Ferries last year after she confused “starboard” and “port” and steered a ship in the wrong direction has accused the company of discrimination, saying she was held to a higher standard than other employees because of her sex. Deborah Magnone filed a complaint with the B.C. human rights tribunal and yesterday, the tribunal rejected a bid by B.C. Ferries to have the complaint dismissed. That means the case will proceed to a public hearing, unless the parties can resolve the matter. Magnone, who was hired as a casual deckhand on May...

  Although officials say the Canada/US border is well protected, the Minuteman organization has set up several 'observation posts' along the border between Sumas and Blaine.   Tom Williams, head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Deming, Washington. Both American and Canadian protestors joined together in opposition of the Minuteman inititives, some critics allege that the group has racist motives behind their operations. Armed Americans patrol B.C.-Washington border CTV.ca News StaffA group of armed Americans began patrolling part of the 49th parallel Saturday, saying they'll be keeping an eye on those who illegally cross into the U.S. from...

http://westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=928 A nation torn apart An exclusive Western Standard poll shows more than a third of westerners are thinking of separating from Canada. What’s dividing the country--and can anything be done to save it? Kevin Steel - August 22, 2005 It wasn’t just what the bumper sticker said, but where it was placed and what it was stuck on. The white rectangle that read, "One hundred years is long enough," followed by the website address, www.separationalberta.com, was high up in the rear window of a shiny new, high-end SUV driving through supposedly Liberal downtown Edmonton-- not on a dusty old...

<p>CALGARY (CP)-More than one-third of Western Canadians surveyed this summer thought it was time to consider seperation from Canada, a poll suggests.</p> <p>In the survey, 35.6 per cent of respondents from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia agreed with the statement: Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country.</p>

Divers found no victims as they searched the water around a grounded B.C. ferry that missed the West Vancouver terminal and plowed through a crowded marina on Thursday. The operator, BC Ferries, promised a full investigation to determine why the 7,000-tonne vessel smashed through the marina beside the Horseshoe Bay terminal at about 10:10 a.m. local time. The 7,000-tonne ferry missed the Horseshoe Bay terminal and smashed through a marina. Witnesses said the Queen of Oak Bay seemed to have lost power before it veered into Sewell's Marina. But David Hahn, the president of BC Ferries, said it was too...

Leaders back electoral reform Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud Times Colonist Thursday, May 19, 2005 The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties have got the message: Voters want changes to the province's electoral system. In a rare show of harmony, Premier Gordon Campbell, NDP Leader Carole James and Green party Leader Adriane Carr agreed Wednesday that B.C. needs to keep working on the issue, even though a referendum on one suggested change failed to pass Tuesday. "There's a real hunger to move and look at ways of improving our system," Campbell said. "I've been a clear advocate of that...

Polls are closing at 8:00 Pacific (11:00 Eastern)! With Free Dominion down, I think this is the best place for the thread.

B.C. judge allows extradition in AIM killing Monday, February 21, 2005 Updated at 2:28 PM EST Canadian Press Vancouver — A B.C. Supreme Court judge has recommended that John Graham be extradited to the United States to stand trial in the murder of a woman in South Dakota almost 30 years ago. As Justice Elizabeth Bennett read her decision on Monday, Mr. Graham sat with his arms crossed, often leaning forward as he intently listened to the ruling.

The PURPOSE of the Party, if elected, will be to provide a "CHOICE" to all the residents and voters of BC to begin the diplomatic negotiations to become the 51st State of The United States of America. This will be accomplished with the "VOICE" and input of all the citizens of British Columbia and their

  Prostitution zone proposed in Victoria, British Columbia 11/17/2004, 6:29 a.m. PT The Associated Press     VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) — A British Columbia provincial legislator has proposed a legal working zone for prostitutes in a largely downtown industrial part of her district in the provincial capital city.Sheila Orr, a member of the governing Liberal party who represents the Victoria-Hillside district, said residents have complained about hookers showing up in residential areas and the resulting police sweeps for the prostitutes' customers."I just think it's time we took a look at an issue that we know has been on...

What did you make of that poll showing 40% of Canadian teens regard America as “evil”? A little statistical oversampling of various Khadr nephews and nieces in southern Ontario perhaps? But no, these seem to be regular well-adjusted wholesome all-American-hating Canadian teens. And the only sub-group variation I saw in the Dominion Institute’s survey was that, when it comes to francophone teens, the number who regard America as an “evil global force” rises to 64%. Given that, unlike other Yankophobic nations, the Canadian economy has only one customer, our anti-Americanism is, obviously, psychologically unhealthy: we decline to put our money...

A high school play featuring a same-sex kiss between two lesbian characters has caused a stir in North Vancouver. The principal of Handsworth Secondary told the school's drama teacher to take the scene out of the play Broken Theory – after getting some complaints after the play's second show. North Vancouver School Board chair Ginny Diebolt says the principal acted because the play featured inappropriate language and sexually explicit scenes. "High school plays must have a broad appeal to a broad range in the community. "And I think there is an expectation in our community that if you go to...

Nanaimo residents could be out of luck for emergency room doctors come 12:00. ER doctors and the Vancouver Island Health Authority failed to reach an agreement last night. The 21 physicians, who resigned ten days ago, have threatened increased job action if an agreement isn't made by noon. Meaning the one doctor left in the ER, to treat life and limb cases, would be removed. The dispute is over staffing levels and wage parity with Victoria. The Health Authority says if necessary outside doctors will be moved in to maintain emergency services.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Mike Rowe thinks it's funny that his catchy name for a Web site design company sounds a lot like Microsoft. The software giant, however, is not amused. "Since my name is Mike Rowe, I thought it would be funny to add 'soft' to the end of it," said Rowe, a 17-year-old computer geek and Grade 12 student in Victoria, British Columbia. Microsoft Corp. and its attorneys have demanded that he give up his domain name, the Vancouver Province newspaper reported Sunday. Rowe registered the name in August. In November, he received a letter from Microsoft's Canadian...

B.C. JUDGE DELAYS MEDIA BID TO UNSEAL SEARCH WARRANTS VANCOUVER -- The mystery surrounding a massive drug and organized-crime probe in British Columbia has deepened after a judge delayed a bid to unseal the search warrants used in a series of unprecedented raids on the B.C. Legislature last weekend. Lawyers for several media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, asked for access to the warrants the RCMP used to get permission to raid the offices of two top B.C. cabinet ministers' aides and five other businesses and homes in Victoria and Vancouver. Police said the raids were part of an...

SEATTLE -- Terrorists are using Canada as a launching pad to illegally enter America. An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovers not only are terrorist recruitments going on in British Columbia, but holes in border security between there and Western Washington are an open gate, letting terrorists walk right in. KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne exposes the threat from Vancouver. This city wants to be known as our friendly neighbor to the north and host for the 2010 Winter Games. However, a KIRO Team 7 Investigation discovered it's also home to 55 known terrorist organizations, some of which...

Why A Naked Bike Ride? Every day we are bombarded with countless messages demanding our obedience to the corporate dictates of a consumption dependent society. Little regard is paid to the future of our planet and generations left with a legacy of waste and environmental contamination. How many countless times each day do our media masters spin the same message: Unless you buy this, you are not worthy. Unless you look like this you should be ashamed. By cruising naked down the spending frenzy capitals of the world, we are saying.NO! ...a fancy new car is not a mark of...

VICTORIA (CP) - Residents of a Kelowna, B.C., neighbourhood whose homes were levelled by a raging forest fire may try to take the B.C. government to court, a lawyer said Wednesday. Denis Berntsen, a lawyer in the Vancouver Island community of Sidney, said he has been approached by one family and talked to several others. There could be grounds for a class-action lawsuit against the government, he said. "The allegation is that the fire could have been prevented or at least the severity of it could have been prevented had the government followed the expert reports it had available to...

Fears that an outbreak of a cold-like illness among patients at a 101-bed nursing home in the South Fraser area was linked to a mutant SARS-like virus were eased yesterday. Since July 1, 11 residents at Kinsmen Place Lodge in Surrey have died from an outbreak of respiratory illness. Tests on some of the victims have shown the presence of a coronavirus similar to SARS. Don Bower of the Fraser Health Au-thority said 11 residents and six out of 129 staff had cold symptoms at the second nursing home, which has not been identified. He said tests have failed to...

SARS virus may be back in Canada 17:32 20 August 03 Debora MacKenzie An outbreak of pneumonia, which tests so far indicate may be caused by the SARS virus, appears to be spreading in British Columbia, Canada. The virus had already infected over 150 people and killed six at a nursing home near Vancouver, and now appears to have infected a second nursing home nearby. Researchers have announced that several genetic sequences from the virus are identical to the virus that causes SARS. But, confusingly, the symptoms shown in the new outbreak have been much milder. The apparent end to...

VANCOUVER (CP) - Theories abound but answers remain elusive as experts from Canada and beyond try to figure out whether a mysterious respiratory outbreak at a Vancouver-area nursing home - which claimed another life Tuesday - is a new and milder form of SARS. The outbreak at the Kinsmen Place Lodge in suburban Surrey is confounding experts because most of the nearly 150 residents and staff who have become ill have suffered nothing more than mild cold-like symptoms - nothing like the severe disease that gave severe acute respiratory syndrome its name. While public health officials in British Columbia insist...

VANCOUVER -- Another person has died as medical officials in Surrey, B.C., try to decode an outbreak of a mysterious SARS-like virus. The illness has raised fears of a new outbreak of the dreaded disease in Western Canada and it is spreading, but experts are cautioning Canadians not to jump to the conclusion that the respiratory illness is to blame. A second nursing home in Surrey has had nine cases of a respiratory illness among its elderly residents. And, last week, the Kinsmen Place Lodge, also in Surrey, reported 143 cases of a similar illness. Another person at the lodge...

VANCOUVER -- A mutant SARS virus has forced into quarantine 19 workers at Surrey Memorial Hospital. They had all come into contact with an elderly female patient at the hospital who recently tested positive for a SARS-like infection. The woman is still in isolation at the hospital with respiratory problems. Hospital spokesperson Helen Carkner said none of the staff are ill, but are staying at home as a precaution. "For a period of a few hours, before we got the conclusive lab results," Carkner said Saturday, "there were some staff that were in contact with that patient." Public health officials...

By HELEN BRANSWELL VANCOUVER (CP) - Theories abound but answers remain elusive as experts from Canada and beyond try to figure out whether a mysterious respiratory outbreak at a Vancouver-area nursing home - which claimed another life Tuesday - is a new and milder form of SARS. The outbreak at the Kinsmen Place Lodge in suburban Surrey is confounding experts because most of the nearly 150 residents and staff who have become ill have suffered nothing more than mild cold-like symptoms - nothing like the severe disease that gave severe acute respiratory syndrome its name. While public health officials in...

Pamela Fayerman Vancouver Sun Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Genetic testing of blood and other samples from dead and ill Surrey nursing home residents and workers is so far consistent with SARS, the scientific director of Health Canada' s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg told The Vancouver Sun Monday. Dr. Frank Plummer, who doubles as the director-general of the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in Ottawa, said the results are so intriguing that a virologist from the World Health Organization in Geneva is expected to visit the Winnipeg laboratory today to view the samples. Dr. David Patrick, chief epidemiologist...