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Vancouver Rundown Thursday November 30, 2023

Summarized details and links to local news ignored by Facebook

Bruce Claggett

Nov 30, 2023

Summary

A foiled-plan to kill a U.S.-Canadian Sikh activist has ended in an indictment in the States and ties to last June’s murder of Surrey’s Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. The lengthy indictment, filed in New York on Wednesday, accuses Nick Gupta of being a hitman with contacts in the Indian government. It claims Gupta told an undercover U.S. agent that he knew of multiple targets including those on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. Gupta is now sitting in a European jail waiting extradition to the States.

Other stories…

Conditions at Abbotsford Regional Hospital are like something you would see in a third world country - that according to B.C. Conservative MLA Bruce Banman. The Member from Abbotsford South says he saw patients lined up in beds in the hospital’s hallway during a recent visit to deal with a family member’s medical issue. Banman has told CTV one of the bathrooms was soiled with an adult diaper and feces on the floor. He also says it took far too long to clean up the mess. Fraser Health says there has been a significant increase in ER patients at Abbotsford Hospital and some have to be placed in the overflow space to optimize the delivery of care to all patients.

Only a couple years after being praised as a B.C. success story and a tech sector unicorn, Vancouver-based AbCellera Biologics has announced it will be cutting close to 10 per cent of its workforce. The anti-body therapy firm will still have close to 400 Canadian workers and continue to work on research that leads to new medicines. AbCellera helped develop the first anti-body therapy for COVID-19. It’s also recently expanded its main campus with a new research centre in the Mount Pleasant area thanks in part to a $300 million government investment.

Don’t expect to see the BC Ferry Coastal Renaissance back in service for the busy December holiday rush. It’s been out of service since the summer and many had expected motor repairs would be complete by now. BC Ferries says an issue has been identified in its final testing phase. This all comes as the provincial government promises to punish BC Ferries with fines if it cuts service during peak periods, staring in the new year.

November draws to a close with clouds moving in…and showers. December starts with rain that should continue through the weekend and beyond. There is still no snow in the forecast. Here are the latest conditions from our private weather station in Surrey.