Police in Surrey say they’re on the lookout for two men facing charges for firearms offences who removed their electronic ankle bracelets and didn’t return to their court-mandated residence last week. Surrey RCMP say they want the public’s help locating 25-year-old Terry MacDonald and 26-year-old Joseph Gregory, who are both wanted for allegedly breaching their bail conditions. Mounties say the pair were released on bail May 25th on gun charges, and police received a report the next day about the men removing their monitoring bracelets and leaving the location of their house arrest. Investigators say McDonald is five-foot-six, weighing 150 pounds, while Gregory is six-foot-two and 220 pounds, and both men are considered armed and dangerous.
The company behind the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline says the project is nearing completion, with 612 kilometres of pipe laid so far on the 670-kilometre route. In a construction update, TC Energy says the project is nearly 89 per cent completion into the pipeline’s final year of construction, which will see natural gas transported from Dawson Creek to Kitimat for export to Asia. The company says it’s had to deal with the spring snowmelt and adjust its plans to deal with the seasonal conditions and take more measures to deal with erosion and sediment control overseen by hundreds of workers. TC Energy says the natural gas pipeline work has had to overcome many challenges in order to hit significant milestones as the project nears completion.
The City of Vancouver says it’s made significant changes to speed up new housing construction by moving to clear a backlog of applications. Mayor Ken Sim says the changes voted on yesterday by council will streamline the application process and speed up new housing construction city-wide. The city says the vote means that housing applications with the highest number of units will get priority, which will lessen the risk of displacing residents. Councillor Mike Klassen says the vote discontinues a time-consuming stage known as the policy enquiry process, which will free up city staff to approve housing projects.
Vancouver firefighters say a man suffered life-threatening injuries in a fire that broke out early Monday morning on West Sixth Avenue. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services say they received a report of a fire in a residential building just before 5 a-m on May 29th and found a male with serious burns outside a burnt unit. Firefighters say the blaze was caused by open flames burning combustible materials in the unit, and sprinklers were able to contain it, though the unit’s smoke alarms weren’t working. The fire service says a 34-year-old man was taken to VGH with serious and life-threatening injuries.
The BC Health Ministry says it’s doled out more than a million dollars in grants to dozens of communities across the province this year to improve road safety infrastructure. The ministry says the second year of its Vision Zero grant program has distributed funds to 59 communities to improve crosswalks and traffic calming measures, as well as speed-limit reduction pilot projects. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the road safety grant program is especially important in rural and Indigenous communities, and preventing road-related injuries will lessen pressure on the province’s health-care system. The province says the funds are distributed to governments, Indigenous groups and others such as school districts through regional health authorities, noting that road injuries and deaths cost the health-care system 300-million dollars annually.
Police in Port Moody say a group of youths deliberately set fire to a turf field behind the city’s recreation complex on Friday night. Port Moody police say firefighters were called to the Trasolini Field just before midnight on May 26th after a group of young people was seen using an accelerant to light the field on fire before fleeing the scene. The police force says it’s appealing for information about the fire, which caused about four-thousand dollars in damage, since the suspects managed to get away. Police say the fire danger in Port Moody is high and firefighters had to put out another blaze nearby two days later, and investigators are encouraging members of the public to report fires and suspicious activity immediately.