BC Premier David Eby says he is deeply disturbed that a high-risk sex offender convicted for a 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy was able to escape supervision after failing to return to his halfway house. Police say 58-year-old Randall Hopley is now wanted on a Canada-wide warrant. The National Parole Board said in January that Hopley was allegedly caught at a library less than a metre from a group of children, violating his supervision orders after being released in 2018. Eby says he doesn’t understand why there weren’t sufficient safeguards in place, given Hopley’s criminal history and the parole board’s recommendation of charges against the man in its January report.
Volcanic ash from a Russian volcano disrupted a number of flights in and out of Vancouver International Airport over the weekend. The airport tweeted on Saturday evening that YVR saw a small number of delays and flight cancellations, although the ash was reportedly cleared by Sunday morning. YVR officials say flight operations have since returned to normal. The airport says the volcano from which the ash originated erupted in Russia last week, with eruptions from the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano sending ash as high as 13 kilometres above sea level.
Premiers from across Canada are meeting in Halifax, where health care and federal carbon pricing are anticipated to be major topics. BC Premier David Eby says he is unhappy that the federal government’s recent decision to place a three-year pause on carbon pricing for home fuel oil does not apply to provinces such as BC and Quebec. Eby says the federal government can do more to support the provinces in a number of areas, including energy costs but also housing and public safety. The meetings are scheduled to continue today in Halifax.
Canadian authorities have detected the presence of avian flu at two BC locations over the weekend. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says presence of avian flu was detected on Saturday at two commercial poultry locations, one in Langley, the other in Abbotsford. The development comes after four detections were reported in less than a week last month at commercial poultry operations in the Fraser Valley. The outbreaks in October were the first since April, when infected wild birds migrating north were blamed for spreading the disease in BC and several other Canadian provinces.
BC United has chosen longtime Lumby mayor Kevin Acton as its candidate for the region in the provincial election next year. Acton is currently serving his fifth term as Lumby mayor, having been at that position since 2009. In a written statement, BC United says members in the Vernon-Lumby riding voted Acton to be their candidate over Vernon Public Art Gallery Executive Director Dauna Kennedy. The next provincial election is slated for October 2024.