It’s Day 2 of the summer meeting of Canada’s premiers in Victoria, where health-care has dominated talks so far. BC Premier John Horgan, who is hosting the meeting as chair of the Council of the Federation, says the health-care system needs to be reimagined with a plan for sustainable human resources and stable federal funding. The premiers are asking the federal government to boost its share of costs to 35 per cent up from 22 per cent. Affordability and economic recovery are also on the table with Horgan saying premiers are sharing strategies and also hoping federal dollars will ease the cost of living.
In the year since a crane collapsed on a construction site in Kelowna, killing five people, WorkSafe BC says it has led a multi-pronged investigation. The worker safety agency says in a statement that teams are working to identify the cause, speaking to experts and engineers, sorting a sequence of events, conducting interviews and examining other evidence. The crane failed as it was being dismantled, killing four workers on the construction site and another man in a neighboring building. WorkSafe says when the report is complete it will be released to the public, but adds that it doesn’t have a specific date for release.
The RCMP says it has notified British Columbia’s police watchdog after a police car collided with another vehicle and two men were injured. Mounties say an officer from the B-C Highway Patrol was on his way to investigate an incident in Okanagan Falls when he collided with a civilian vehicle. Two men in the other car were treated in hospital, where one was found to be suffering serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The Independent Investigations Office is looking into whether police actions contributed to the men’s injuries.
The emergency department at Doctor Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater, B-C, is temporarily closed for the third time this month. The department shut down Sunday and Interior Health says in a tweet Monday the diversion would continue until at least 7 a.m. this morning. In an emergency, patients are asked to call 911 or visit the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. The closure is one of several at hospitals across British Columbia and Premier John Horgan is calling for more federal support to restore the health-care system amid severe staffing shortages.
R-C-M-P say a “great weekend” of dragon boating in Nanaimo was tarnished for two racers after they were bear-sprayed by an angry driver. Mounties say a couple in their 60s told police they were walking back to their vehicle Sunday when someone drove by, slowed down, and berated them for walking in the middle of the road. Police say the male pedestrian responded there were no sidewalks on the quiet road and the conflict escalated with the driver spraying the couple. Police are looking for a suspect — a white man in his 20s — and say the registered owner of a vehicle with the reported license plate has denied any knowledge of the incident.