Vancouver man charged with 8 counts of murder in Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy

On Sunday afternoon, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in relation to the crash, according to police.

Second-degree murder is generally defined in Canada as an intentional killing that wasn't planned in advance.

Lo appeared very briefly in court for a bail hearing Sunday afternoon, wearing grey sweats. He did not request bail and will remain in custody until his next appearance, scheduled for May 26 in Vancouver provincial court.
#BritishColumbia
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Polymarket predictions.
#election
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🗳Liberals secure minority government

The 2025 Canadian federal election saw the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, secure a minority government.

The Conservative Party increased its seat count but failed to win, with leader Pierre Poilievre conceding defeat.

#election
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🗳 Liberal Bruce Fanjoy topples Pierre Poilievre in Carleton

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is projected to lose his longtime rural Ottawa seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.

Poilievre had won the area seven times in a row going back to his first win in 2004.
#Poilievre #election
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🗳 Jagmeet Singh resigning as NDP leader after losing his seat, his party routed

Jagmeet Singh said he was stepping down as NDP leader on Monday night after suffering a resounding defeat on election night, losing his own seat and seeing his party reduced to a single-digit seat count.
#Singh #election
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Mark Carney to install new cabinet, recall Parliament early to cut taxes and open U.S. trade talks

Mark Carney is expected to name a new cabinet within two weeks of his election victory and recall Parliament soon after. The cabinet will be no larger than 30 people, smaller than Mr. Trudeau’s 37, the official said. Mr. Carney unveiled a 24-member cabinet when he became Prime Minister on March 14.

The new government plans to bring in a new budget that includes a promised middle class tax cut and legislation to remove federal impediments to interprovincial trade.

Mr. Carney has promised to initiate immediate new trade and security negotiations with the administration in the United States as Canada braces for tariffs on auto parts that are expected to take effect on May 3.
#Carney
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Poilievre faces uncertain future after losing his own seat and failing to depose the Liberals

Poilievre vowed to stay on as party leader despite the disappointing final result, telling his supporters in Ottawa early Tuesday that he needs more time to drive a stake through the Liberals once and for all.

We didn't quite get over the finish line — yet. We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work. We have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future for the country.

#Poilievre
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The NDP is losing official party status after Canada’s election

The New Democratic Party won seven ridings — fewer than a third of its 24 seats going into the election. That’s shy of the 12 seats it needs to gain official party status in the House of Commons.

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Saskatchewan Premier seeks federal collaboration post-2025 election

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe extended an invitation for Mark Carney to visit Saskatchewan and collaborate on key issues like carbon pricing, clean electricity regulations, and infrastructure development, while addressing China’s canola tariffs and the U.S. trade war.

Moe framed the election results as a sign of "alienation" rather than separatism, urging alignment of federal policies with provincial goals.
#Saskatchewan #Carney
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'Deeply frustrated': Danielle Smith warns Mark Carney that the status quo can't hold

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s disappointed but ready to negotiate after the Mark Carney-led Liberals were returned to power in Monday’s federal election.

A large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.

The Liberals were leading in just two of Alberta’s 37 federal ridings at the time of the statement.
#Alberta
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Niagara Falls ‘at breaking point’ after surge in migrants

The influx of migrants has taken Niagara Falls to breaking point, according to its mayor, who has to manage the stress of having more asylum seekers per capita than anywhere else in the country, with all the strains that places on schools, hospitals and other services.

I gotta tell you our shelters are full, our transitional housing is full, the drug problem is like it’s never been before.

said Mayor Jim Diodati.

Niagara Falls, with its 15,000 hotel rooms, is where many asylum seekers end up as they find their feet and wait for their claim to be processed.
#immigration #Ontario
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B.C.’s NDP premier says he’s not interested in Jagmeet Singh’s job

Months after winning his first election as provincial NDP leader, B.C. Premier David Eby says he has no intention of replacing Jagmeet Singh.
#BritishColumbia
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🇺🇸 Canada, U.S. have ‘big job ahead of us,’ new ambassador says

The new U.S. ambassador to Canada says Washington and Ottawa now have “a big job ahead of us,” as both countries prepare for negotiations on a new economic and security relationship in the aftermath of the Canadian federal election.

Pete Hoekstra made his first statement as ambassador on Tuesday after presenting his letters of credence to Governor-General Mary Simon at Rideau Hall, enabling him to officially begin his duties as U.S. envoy in Canada.
#US
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🏫 Quebec court overturns out-of-province tuition hike for English universities

A Quebec Superior Court judge overturned the provincial government’s 2023 tuition hike for out-of-province students attending English-language universities like McGill and Concordia.

The 33% increase ($3,000) was deemed unreasonable due to insufficient evidence supporting claims it would protect French or address low student retention. The court also rejected a requirement mandating 80% of out-of-province undergraduates achieve intermediate French proficiency by graduation, calling it unfeasible.

McGill and Concordia universities, which saw enrolment declines after the hike, challenged the policy as harmful to their financial stability and Quebec’s educational reputation.
#Quebec
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Alberta overhauls election laws to allow corporate donations, change referendum thresholds

The Alberta government wants to bring back corporate and union political donations, eliminate the process of vouching for a voter's identity at election polling stations, and lower the threshold for recalls and referendums.

The bill, which amends seven pieces of legislation including the Election Act, would also ban the use of electronic vote tabulators, a measure that was promised by Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government.
#Alberta
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📊 Majority of Canadians feel unwelcome and unsafe travelling to United States: new poll

The Leger survey found that a majority (52 per cent) of respondents agree that “it is no longer safe for all Canadians travelling to the United States.”

Slightly more (54 per cent) don’t feel welcome anymore. Less than a third of Canadians (29 per cent) said they disagree that it is no longer safe and 27 per cent said they still feel welcome. In both cases, 19 per cent said they don’t know.

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🗳Over 800 special ballots 'mistakenly' kept in B.C. riding, Elections Canada says

Over 800 special ballots cast during the recent federal election were mistakenly kept at the office of a returning officer in B.C., Elections Canada says.

The agency says all registered political parties have been informed that 822 special ballots cast by electors in 74 electoral districts across the country were left with the returning officer in the riding of Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam.
#BritishColumbia #election
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💩 Frustrations rise over human waste on Vancouver streets, prompting return of ‘poop fairy’ program

As public defecation in Vancouver reaches new heights, residents, business owners and Business Improvement Areas leaders are calling for action that goes beyond the routine clean-ups.

Executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society says he was forced to implement his own initiative, affectionately dubbed the “poop fairy program,” after other waste-collecting programs proved ineffective.

In 2021, the City of Vancouver introduced its Feces Removal Response Program to address the fouling minefields, with patrols and collections carried out on weekdays across Chinatown, Downtown, Strathcona, Gastown, and Hastings Crossing.

A spokesperson from the city says the program had seen 1,870 removals in the first two months of this year alone. In 2024, 327 calls regarding human waste were made, an average of six calls per week.
#BritishColumbia
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