Vancouver Rundown Friday February 14, 2025

Feb 14, 2025

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Summary

The Eby government is pulling the plug on its election promise of a grocery rebate blaming Donald Trump’s planned tariffs. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey has used a Thursday news conference to also say there will be a hiring freeze on new public servants…except for the essential ones that support core programs and services. The BC General Employees Union says it was not given the heads up about the announcement. The provincial budget will be delivered on March 4 with strong hints that much of the bad news will be blamed on Donald Trump’s yet-to-come tariffs.

Other news…

Breaking News: A small earthquake has been recorded in Juan de Fuca Strait, south of Victoria Thursday night. The quake had a very preliminary magnitude of 3.8 at a depth of 40 kilometres below the sea. It happened just before 10:00 p.m.

The Auditor General’s Office has announced it plans to investigate City of Vancouver land sales. The move follows ‘whistler blower’ complaints last year. The performance audit is ramped up action following a preliminary report that finds such action is warranted - it will dive into whether council was properly informed of many of the transactions.

An extra $5M is being added to the Vancouver Police Department’s budget to crack down on crime on the Downtown Eastside. Mayor Ken Sim and Chief Adam Palmer say an increase in patrol officers will combat organized crime networks and predatory criminals. The two stressed this will not be a short-term solution.

The threat of strike action is looming at BC LifeLabs. Workers at the medical labs could go off the job as early as Sunday in what may start as rotating strike action. LifeLab workers have been without a contract since last April.

Increasing clouds through Friday. Showers on Saturday. Rain on Sunday. Here are the latest details from our private weather station in Surrey.