Premier David Eby says his government will introduce unexplained wealth orders to fight money laundering. He says it was likely shocking for people to hear that no charges would be laid against an alleged money launderer after a special prosecutor cast doubt on Canada’s anti-money laundering laws. Eby said there’s a “serious problem” with federal law that has allowed money laundering activity to go unpunished. He says unexplained wealth orders will allow the province to seize assets from criminals who can’t prove their income is legitimate.
Yukon has become the latest jurisdiction in Canada to ban TikTok from government-issued devices. Highways and Public Works Minister Nils Clarke says his department can delete specific apps from employees’ phones and prevent them from being downloaded in the future. The social media platform has come under increased scrutiny because the Chinese government has a stake in its owner and laws allow the country to demand access to user data. Yukon’s move comes after the federal government said earlier this week that it would ban TikTok from all government-issued devices after similar moves in the United States and European Union.
A Vancouver doctor says new spending on mental health and addictions treatment will close gaps in B-C’s drug recovery services system. Dr. Seonaid (Shown-ah) Nolan says one-billion dollars announced in the province’s latest budget offers hope to people seeking treatment. Nolan says people will no longer be forced to wait for detox and recovery services if they decide to seek help.
A BC Liberal member of the legislature says he’s cautiously optimistic that the provincial government will help Ukrainians get driver’s licences by adding the language to driver’s tests. Mike Shypitka (Ship-it-kah), the member for Kootenay East, says many Ukrainians have had to take tests in Russian rather than Ukrainian, which he says is both traumatizing and insulting to those forced to flee the war-torn country. Shypitka says he’s been lobbying the province for the change for some time. The government says it is now committed to getting it done.
A sociology professor at Simon Fraser University says electric micromobility devices such as e-bikes, scooters, and electric unicycles are essential to the future of transportation in BC. Travers, who goes by their last name, says they’ve logged 30-thousand kilometres on an electric unicycle in the last four years. Travers says electric micromobility devices are crucial to meeting the province’s transportation goals of reducing road congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Travers says their electric unicycle has replaced 80 per cent of their car trips, and cities should carve out more space for the devices to reduce conflict with cars and pedestrians.
Police say two people who died in a crash north of Kamloops this week were refugees who recently arrived in BC. Three people were killed and two others seriously injured on Highway 5 near Clearwater on Wednesday when two pickup trucks swiped each other and hit a third vehicle. Premier David Eby says the tragedy was compounded after confirming two of the dead were from Afghanistan. The stretch of Highway 5 where the crash occurred has seen numerous crashes over the past several months.