Vancouver Rundown Thursday January 25, 2024

There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing. - Robert Burns

Jan 25, 2024

Summary

Get ready for a complete 72 hour transit shutdown in Metro Vancouver. That’s the warning from CUPE 4500 with union brass saying that strike action will escalate Feb. 3 if a deal is not reached between Coast Mountain Bus and transit supervisors and maintenance workers. Superstar mediator Vince Ready has been tapped to get the two sides into agreement in a contract stalemate that’s already caused widespread bus and SeaBus disruptions.

Other news…

More questions are being asked about B.C.’s softer approach to hard drugs as the province reveals a record breaking 2,511 known toxic overdose deaths in a single year. While B.C.’s Chief Coroner slams the ‘politicization’ of the crisis, she admits steps must be taken to save lives. She stands by the government’s decriminalization of illicit drugs, putting the blame on a tainted supply. BC United leader Kevin Falcon says the latest numbers are a, “damning indictment of the NDP's disastrous decriminalization policy which has recklessly endangered lives. British Columbians deserve so much better.”

No arrests have been made in a shooting death in Burnaby on Tuesday night. RCMP say the man died after being shot at around 10:30 p.m. along Kingsway in the Metrotown area. The shooting is believed to be targeted.

Note: Five members of Canada’s 2018 Canadian Junior Hockey Team are being charged with sexual assault. The Globe and Mail says it’s learned the charges are in connection with the assault of a woman in a hotel room in June of 2018. The incident followed a Team Canada fundraising event in London, Ontario.

Thursday brings even more showers. Friday will be cloudy with few if any showers. It’s back to solid rain for the weekend. Here are the latest conditions from our private weather station in Surrey.