National

Feds give millions to B.C.'s STEMCELL Technologies and HTEC for facility construction

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Mar, 2025 12:12 PM

The federal government says it's pumping nearly $100 million into two B.C. firms to support the construction of a hydrogen fuel facility and two "cutting-edge biomanufacturing facilities" for vaccines and other treatments.

The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry says North Vancouver-based HTEC, a hydrogen energy firm, is getting $49 million toward a facility that turns "industrial byproduct hydrogen" into fuel.

The ministry says the facility is part of the company's plan to create a hydrogen fuel station network between B.C. and Alberta, which has also received support from the provincial government and a sizable loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank last year.

Industry Minister Anita Anand also announced a $49.9-million investment in Burnaby-based STEMCELL Technologies, which will go toward two new biomanufacturing facilities to ramp up production of "specialized inputs that are critical to the development and manufacturing of vaccines, therapies and diagnostics."

Dr. Allen Eaves, the company's founder, says the funding will help fill "a gap in the raw materials required for large-scale manufacturing of vaccines" and other biotechnology products.

The industry ministry says the funding is from the federal Strategic Innovation Fund.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Four newsroom staff at Radio NL in Kamloops are cut in format change

More than half of the newsroom at Radio NL in Kamloops, B.C., has been let go as the station moves to a music format. The radio station has had a decades-long grip on news in the Interior and beyond, breaking stories and covering everything from emergencies to courts and city hall.

Four newsroom staff at Radio NL in Kamloops are cut in format change

A look at B.C. health care promises ahead of Oct. 19 election day

The state of British Columbia health care has become a key issue ahead of the provincial election on Oct. 19 as the overburdened system attempts to cope with understaffing, frequent short-term closures of emergency rooms and hundreds of thousands of residents who don't have a family doctor. Here are some of the health-related election promises from the three major parties:

A look at B.C. health care promises ahead of Oct. 19 election day

Picket lines go up as strike begins at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver

Picket lines have gone up at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver as about 600 workers begin a strike. Canada's labour minister, meanwhile, says he spoke with both the employer and representatives of Grain Workers Union Local 333 on Monday, and they have agreed to resume contract negotiations alongside federal mediators.

Picket lines go up as strike begins at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine

Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, marking its third authorization of vaccine formulations that protect against the most recently circulating variants of the virus. Pfizer-BioNTech's mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version that targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine

Greens vow to expand safer supply of drugs in B.C., ex-coroner Lapointe backs plan

British Columbia's former chief coroner is criticizing plans by two of the province's major political parties for involuntary treatment of people with drug addictions, saying there's little evidence it works and more people will die. Lisa Lapointe emerged from retirement in the starting days of the B.C. election campaign to throw her weight behind a BC Green Party campaign pledge to expand prescribed safer supply of opioids and other drugs to deal with the province's deadly overdose crisis.

Greens vow to expand safer supply of drugs in B.C., ex-coroner Lapointe backs plan

Man sentenced for multiple break-ins over a year

Police say a 44-year-old man has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for committing multiple break-ins in a six-month period between 2022 and 2023. Burnaby R-C-M-P say the man had been targetting high-end homes under construction.