Reality check: Could mail from Canada to China spread Omicron? – Global News

British Columbia Premier David Eby’s new cabinet will be sworn in on Nov. 18, and it will have to feature a significant number of new ministers after last month’s election saw several incumbents defeated while others didn’t run.

Eby will also have to figure out how the cabinet will represent rural regions, given that the party won only five of its 47 seats, pending recounts, outside Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Here are some of the potential candidates for a new seat at the cabinet table:

Brittny Anderson, Kootenay Central

Anderson held the position of parliamentary secretary for tourism before the election and is one of only two incumbent members returning from the B.C. Interior. First elected to the legislature in 2020, she previously served as city councillor in Nelson and was board member at the Regional District of Central Kootenay.

Harwinder Sandhu, Vernon-Lumby

The other returning incumbent from the B.C. Interior, Sandhu was parliamentary secretary for seniors’ services and long-term care in the previous government. She was a federal NDP candidate for the region in the 2019 and also ran in the 2017 B.C. elections before breaking through in 2020.

Steve Morissette, Kootenay-Monashee

The mayor of the Village of Fruitvale, B.C., takes over the seat held by veteran New Democrat cabinet minister Katrine Conroy since 2005. The NDP website says Morissette was first elected in Fruitvale a decade ago.

Tamara Davidson, North Coast-Haida Gwaii

Davidson takes over another seat long held by the NDP, this time in a riding won by Jennifer Rice in the last three provincial elections before this year’s vote. Davidson is a member of the Haida Nation and an elected representative to the nation’s council, as well as a public servant for more than 25 years.

Randene Neill, Powell River-Sunshine Coast

Neill, a former Global BC broadcaster who spent almost two decades in journalism, is one of the more recognizable new MLAs coming into legislature. Her seat is also in a longtime NDP riding held by former cabinet member Nicholas Simons since 2005.

Christine Boyle, Vancouver-Little Mountain

There are also a number of high-profile New Democrat members in Metro Vancouver, starting with Boyle, a Vancouver city councillor. She was first elected to city council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Boyle is married to social activist Seth Klein.

Terry Yung, Vancouver-Yaletown

A veteran Vancouver police officer and longtime board member of immigrant services non-profit SUCCESS, a staple organization in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Yung is also married to Vancouver City Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung.

Jessie Sunner, Surrey-Newton

Another high-profile new member from Metro Vancouver is former Surrey Police Board vice-chair Sunner. Surrey had been the focal point of conflict between the province and municipal officials over the future of policing. Sunner has also served as a human rights lawyer for B.C.’s Hospital Employees’ Union.

Debra Toporowski, Cowichan Valley

Toporowski has been elected twice as a North Cowichan councillor since 2018 and had served as the municipality’s acting mayor in the past. She is also a five-time councillor at the Cowichan Tribes and is the first woman ever elected to hold seats in both councils at the same time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were a lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of a business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

The lack of information shared with Canadians concerned Brett Caraway, a professor of media economics at the University of Toronto.

“The government tells us nothing substantive about their analysis,” he said in an email.

“Although the Investment Canada Act gives the government jurisdiction over social media platforms like TikTok, I think it would be in the public interest for (federal institution) Innovation, Science and Economic Development to be more forthcoming about the nature of their findings.”

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VANCOUVER – A B.C. Supreme Court judge says it has jurisdiction to order the disposal of thousands of pieces of evidence seized from serial killer Robert Pickton’s pig farm decades ago, whether it was used in his murder trial or not.

A ruling issued online Wednesday said the RCMP can apply to dispose of some 15,000 pieces of evidence collected from the search of Pickton’s property in Port Coquitlam, including “items determined to belong to victims.”

Police asked the court for directions last year to be allowed to dispose of the mountain of evidence gathered in the case against Pickton, who was convicted of the second-degree murder of six women, although he was originally charged with first-degree murder of 27 women.

Pickton died in May after being attacked in a Quebec prison.

Some family members of victims disputed the disposal because they have a pending civil lawsuit against Pickton’s estate and his brother, David Pickton, Yand want to ensure that the evidence they need to prove their case is not dispersed or destroyed.

The court dismissed their bid to intervene in July this year, and the court has now ruled it has the authority to order the disposal of the evidence whether it was used at Pickton’s trial or not.

The ruling says police plan to “bring a series of applications” for court orders allowing them to get rid of the evidence because they are “legally obligated to dispose of the property” since it’s no longer needed in any investigation or criminal proceeding.

Justice Frits Verhoeven says in his ruling that there may be reason to doubt if the court has jurisdiction over items seized from the farm that had not be made exhibits.

But he said that will be a decision for later, noting “the question as to whether the court retains inherent jurisdiction to order disposal of seized items may remain to be considered, if necessary, in some other case.”

Jason Gratl, the lawyer representing family members of victims in the civil cases against the Pickton brothers, said in an interview Wednesday that the latest court decision doesn’t mean exhibits will be destroyed.

“Any concern about the destruction of the evidence is premature. Just because the court will hear the application to allow the RCMP to destroy the evidence does not mean that the court would grant the application,” he said.

Gratl said that if the RCMP brings an application to get rid of evidence that could be useful in proving the civil cases, he would ask the court for the evidence.

“We would be seeking to take possession of any evidence that the RCMP no longer wants in order to prove that civil claim,” he said.

Gratl said no date has been set for when the civil cases will be heard.

The court’s earlier ruling says the RCMP has agreed to allow some of the civil case plaintiffs “limited participation” in the disposal application process, agreeing to notify them if police identify an “ownership or property interest in the items” that they’re applying to destroy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.