B.C. to end state of emergency as wildfire risk winds down
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 14 Sep, 2023 05:12 PM
The British Columbia government says it is ending the state of emergency imposed last month when thousands of residents were chased out of their homes by wildfires.
The government says in a statement the wildfire risk is diminishing in much of the province as temperatures cool, allowing most residents to return home.
A wildfire in Lytton, B.C., during historically high temperatures points to a serious need to prevent similar occurrences, says the chairwoman of the Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the possibility that a freight train could have been linked to the disaster.
Tiff Macklem says the central bank largely expects higher prices right now are temporary and the inflation rate will fall back to the bank's two-per-cent target as the economy opens further.
Evacuation orders affecting more than 1,400 properties are posted for 10 of the 26 fires currently listed by the B.C. Wildfire service as potentially threatening or highly visible.
In a report today, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux estimates that a one-time tax of three per cent and five per cent on Canadians with net wealth over $10 million and $20 million respectively would yield between $44 billion and $61 billion.
A well-known American advocate of stronger Canada-U.S. ties helped state lawmakers from across the Midwest formally vent their bilateral frustrations Wednesday with an official request that the two countries "immediately" open their shared border to fully vaccinated travellers.