🚑 Breaking & Incidents
- Multi-vehicle crash with double-decker bus shuts Highway 99 near Highway 91 in Delta. Surrey police and Surrey Fire Services responded Friday after dash-cam footage showed a truck cross the median and collide with multiple vehicles, including a double-decker transit bus; one person was taken to hospital with minor injuries and the route was expected to stay closed for several hours.
🚨 Crime & Public Safety
- Vancouver police seek suspects in three unprovoked stranger assaults in one day. Incidents occurred at Victory Square (6:10 a.m.), Commercial Drive (12:30 p.m.) and another location; victims include a 73-year-old woman taken to hospital in stable condition and a 44-year-old man who was elbowed and punched, and police released physical descriptions for suspects.
- Burnaby man sentenced to 3.5 years for cross‑Canada sextortion of teens. Anwer Jelassi pleaded guilty to extorting nine victims between Oct. 2022 and Dec. 2023 and was sentenced Oct. 14 in Vancouver provincial court to just under three and a half years, after Crown and defence agreed to a joint submission.
- IHIT investigates unidentified man found dead in Surrey; foul play suspected. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is working to identify the man found in Surrey and has declared foul play is suspected, investigators said in their ongoing inquiry.
🏛️ Government & Politics
- Advance polls open in B.C. as Conservatives delay a costed platform. Advance voting began Friday and runs through Wednesday ahead of Oct. 24 election day; interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson told a Port Moody stop he has seen the platform but is delaying release to verify numbers amid a stated provincial $14-billion deficit.
- BC NDP pledges up to $90 million for involuntary care beds at Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver. The party says the investment would add involuntary care beds as part of a provincial network, complementing existing centres in Surrey and Maple Ridge and planned new facilities in Surrey and Prince George.
- Lawsuits allege Chinese state-owned XCMG defrauded Canadian equipment dealers. At Vancouver’s law courts, dealer Ryan Martin of Arctic Machinery testified that problems began around 2021 and alleged serial-number plate tampering; multiple dealers from Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario have filed similar suits alleging misrepresented equipment.
- Study finds Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside would be among worst hit if earthquake strikes. The analysis identifies the Downtown Eastside as particularly vulnerable to earthquake damage in Vancouver, with local infrastructure and neighbourhood risk highlighted in the report.
📰 Also Today
- Grand Chief Stewart Phillip endorses B.C. Green leader; wife was NDP MLA.
- Campbell River ballot misprint may change school trustee vote counts.
- Vancouver officer calls Myles Gray 'strongest man' at public hearing.
- Body of missing paddleboarder Kyle Yrjola recovered from Okanagan Lake after 23 days.
- Where B.C. parties stand on housing policies ahead of the election.
- Richmond seeks to expropriate indoor waterpark Watermania.
- Politicians cite online hate and threats during municipal and provincial campaigns.
- Advance polls overlap with municipal voting during B.C. election advance period.
- Convicted killer attending McGill law school divides students over safety and second chances.
- CRA agreed to $40M payout after taxpayer’s debunked conspiracy tax refund claim.
- Two candidates contest Lytton mayoralty five years after devastating 2021 fire.
- Northern B.C. city calls for end to provincial e-scooter pilot program.
- B.C. Conservatives drop candidate over post minimizing the Holocaust.
- New anti-gang unit launched in Prince George for northern B.C. operations.
- First officer involved in Myles Gray fatal encounter testifies at public hearing.
- Author Steven Galloway completes testimony at ongoing defamation trial.
- Victoria-area ballet teacher found guilty of sexual offences.
- Kelowna election debates on homelessness leave unhoused residents feeling excluded.
- Valemount mayor charged with sexual assault.
- (Duplicate ID) First officer involved in Myles Gray fatal encounter testifies at public hearing.
