British Columbia

The election agency also says in a statement that screening of uncounted absentee and mail-in ballots has identified 65,000 votes provincewide that will also be tallied from Saturday until Monday, up from the previous estimate of 49,000.

A group of Black and Indigenous women say they want a national public inquiry into a recent spate of police-involved deaths after nine Indigenous people were killed in interactions with police in August and September.

About two dozen people gathered on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, including the families of eight people who died.

The families say accountability and justice for the deaths of their loved ones is difficult to get and that concrete actions need to happen to address police brutality and to offer support and resources for the people affected.

Laura Holland, a Wet'suwet'en woman and the mother of Jared Lowndes, said police-involved killings are a state of emergency for Indigenous people.

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Record numbers of people in British Columbia are being vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu as the province ramps up its immunization campaign for respiratory illness season.

The health ministry said in a news release that B.C. pharmacies administered almost 82,000 vaccinations on Oct. 15 alone.

It says that was a record for a single day, with about 50,000 shots for flu and about 32,000 for COVID-19 dispensed.

. . .

The first week of the campaign also set a record, with almost 370,000 vaccines administered.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31487063

While British Columbians wait with baited breath for the final results from BC’s provincial election, one thing is clear: First-past-the-post has robbed voters of choice, deeply polarized communities, and when it comes to the biggest issues facing British Columbia, resolved absolutely nothing.

BC Conservative leader John Rustad’s election night speech captured the sorry state of affairs:

“If we are in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down …and get back to the polls.”

A leader whose party received 44% of the popular vote vowing to do everything in his power to ensure the legislature doesn’t work for the majority, gunning for the next chance to seize all the power with less than half of the vote, is a brutal, yet predictable outcome of first-past-the-post.

If the supposed advantages of our winner-take-all system are its ability to cater to the centrist voter, ensure “strong, stable majority governments”, prevent “backroom deals”, deliver fast results on election night, and keep out extremists, it has failed utterly on all counts―all at once.

BC’s election has exposed these claims for what they are: at best, misleading talking points from those who haven’t reviewed the evidence, and at worst, deliberately dishonest assertions from shallow politicians who consistently put their own ambitions of power ahead of the public interest when it comes to electoral reform...

The NDP candidate for the riding — which encompasses the communities of Sooke, Metchosin and Port Renfrew along with a swath of southern Vancouver Island west of Greater Victoria — is leading by just 20 votes, according to the latest information from Elections B.C.

Judge dismisses judicial review of Public Health Act regulation concerning raw milk

A man's latest attempt to challenge B.C.'s rules on unpasteurized milk — also known as "raw milk" — was dismissed in the province's Supreme Court.

Gordon S. Watson sought a judicial review of the province's regulation of unpasteurized milk as a health hazard subject to "significant restrictions" under the Public Health Act.

Justice Bill Veenstra wrote Watson mostly wanted a legal opinion that a practice known as "cow-sharing" allows raw milk distribution and to restart a previous constitutional challenge. Watson also sought "various declarations" and an injunction against the enforcement of raw milk rules.

But Veenstra noted Watson had been before the courts in 2010 and 2013 on raw milk issues and dismissed his latest effort under "res judicata" — a legal doctrine which prevents relitigating matters that have already been decided.

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I see a few ridings where the margin between Con and NDP is razor thin with Green taking a sizable chunk of the vote.