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It was announced on June 18 that the British Columbia (BC) government will end subsidies for expensive medication for Shirley Pollock, a 9-year-old resident of Vancouver Island.

Shirley suffers from a rare genetic disease called Batten disease (neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2). This disease causes epilepsy seizures multiple times a day, eventually causing severe brain damage. It is an extremely rare disease for which there is currently no cure, and Shirley is the only person in British Columbia who has been diagnosed with Batten disease.

The drug that was being discontinued was called Brineura, a treatment that slows the progression of the disease and costs $1 million a year. The family was shocked by the notice they received on the 18th. The family revealed that the last dose was administered on the 19th.

British Columbia’s Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, said on the 19th that the decision to end funding was “an extremely difficult decision,” and that it was not because of the price of the drug, but because Shirley’s condition had progressed to the point where she met the “criteria for stopping Brineura. “There is clinical evidence that once motor and speech function have declined to a certain extent, Brineura no longer has the effect of slowing progression. But her mother, Jori Fails, denies that her daughter’s condition has worsened.

Dr Ineka Whiteman, director of the US-Australia-based Batten Disease Support and Research Association and the Global Batten Disease Research Initiative, also told CBC Online that the decision to stop funding was based on old clinical trials and called the state government’s response “shocking.”

Police have launched a major investigation into a series of extortion incidents targeting South Asian residents and businesses in the British Columbia city of Surrey.

Surrey police said 10 cases of extortion have been reported in the city in the past six months and they have set up dedicated teams to tackle extortion in the city’s Newton and Worley City Centre areas, as well as increased patrols in several commercial districts.

Extortion attacks targeting South Asian residents and businesses are not just occurring in Surrey, but across Canada. Reports of people coming in via letters, phone calls and social media have included threats of violence and demands for money. Police believe the crimes may have links across regions.

In response to this situation, a public safety forum organized by South Asian residents in Surrey will be held on June 15th. Organizer Satish Kumar, chairman of the Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Surrey, told CBC News, “There is no need to be afraid of them (the perpetrators). They don’t want to kill us, they want money.” He said he has been the victim of such blackmail, and that shots were fired at a banquet hall he owns and at the building of an insurance company he is involved with.

Police said, “We are very concerned that there may be other victims who have responded to the blackmail or have not reported the crime to the police,” and urged people to never give in to the perpetrator’s demands, to report the crime to the police, and for witnesses to come forward with information.

The Dryden Creek wildfire in Squamish, British Columbia, which broke out on June 9th, has grown to approximately 54 hectares as of 10:00 p.m. on June 11th and is out of control.

According to Squamish RCMP, the fire was first discovered at about 5:30 p.m. on the 9th after a report of smoke rising from a hill near the end of Tantalus Road. Dry weather caused the fire to spread quickly, growing to 5 hectares in just a few hours. By the morning of the 11th, it had grown to about 20 hectares, and by the afternoon of the same day, high winds had caused the fire to spread further north, more than doubling in size.

A “regional emergency” was declared for Squamish on the 10th, and evacuation warnings were issued for approximately 200 homes in the Breckendale, Tantalus Road and Skyridge areas east of Highway 99. Evacuation orders were also issued for nearby Alice Lake Provincial Park on the 11th. According to Squamish officials, the fire had not yet reached the park as of 10 p.m. on the 11th, but the decision to close the park was made considering the smoke and predicted progression of the fire.

Police are investigating the fire as likely human-caused. The fire is believed to have started around 4pm near the bike path just off Tantalus Road and police are appealing for information. Squamish RCMP: 604-892-6100

On June 2nd, the British Columbia (BC) government officially announced that the Broadway Subway Project, an extension of the SkyTrain Millennium Line, will open in the fall of 2027.

The project will extend the Millennium Line 5.7 km from VCC-Clark to Arbutus, with six new underground stations (Great Northern Way-Emily Carr, Oak-VGH, Broadway-City Hall, South Granville, Mount Pleasant, and Arbutus), and an underground passageway to the Canada Line at Cambie Street.

The journey from VCC Clark Station to Arbutus Station takes about 11 minutes. A bus (Line 99B) connects Arbutus Station to the University of British Columbia (UBC). BC’s Minister of Transportation Mike Farnworth said that the SkyTrain will have “three times the capacity of Line 99B” and will greatly improve traffic conditions in the surrounding area.

But the project is $127 million over budget, about two years behind schedule, and the lengthy construction process has put a strain on surrounding businesses.

The extension from Arbutus to UBC was included as a priority for TransLink in its latest 10-year plan and is supported by UBC and the City of Vancouver, but there is currently no specific funding in place from the provincial or federal governments.

This year, there were no traffic fatalities in British Columbia over the three-day Victoria Day weekend in May. The BC Highway Patrol said this is the first time in six years that this has happened.

Three people lost their lives over the 2024 weekend, and an average of four people died in traffic accidents between 2019 and 2023. However, ticket numbers remain high: More than 1,900 speeding tickets were issued in British Columbia during the same period, and 79 vehicles were impounded for excessive speeding.

In May 2025, a “High-Risk Driving and Motorcycle Safety Awareness Campaign” was conducted, during which more than 9,600 speeding tickets were issued across the state.　One particularly dangerous case occurred on May 17th on Highway 3/95 in East Kootenay. A car was stopped going 166km/h on a road with a 100km/h speed limit and was also found to be drunk driving. The driver received an immediate 90-day license suspension, a speeding ticket and had his vehicle impounded for seven days.

In the third week of May, a Tesla was traveling at 191 km/h on Highway 1 near Golden, where the speed limit is 100 km/h. The driver (24 years old, resident of Alberta) was charged with a third serious speeding offense in the past two years. He was banned from driving for five months, fined $483, had his vehicle impounded for seven days, and had his license suspended by the Alberta government.

The BC Highway Patrol will be holding a “Summer Drink and Drug Driving Enforcement Campaign” from June 15 to August 31. With the increase in summer traffic, they are calling on people to think more seriously about safe driving.

Canada is expected to see warm and humid weather this summer. “While this may be welcome news for those who are missing the sunshine, it also brings with it the risks of drought, wildfires and severe thunderstorms,” warns Doug Gillham, chief meteorologist for The Weather Network.

According to The Weather Network’s summer forecast for June through August, much of Canada is expected to see above-average temperatures, which could lead to a variety of weather events.

Eastern and Central Canada – Hot and humid weather and severe thunderstorms

Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic coast are expected to see a hot and humid summer.

High humidity will increase the likelihood of severe thunderstorms, and temperatures are expected to remain high at night. Heat waves could begin before July, but they are unlikely to be sustained, except in areas west of the Great Lakes.

The Ontario-Manitoba border is expected to see warmer and drier conditions, which could significantly increase the risk of wildfires. Some areas are already experiencing evacuations due to wildfires, and conditions are likely to be in place throughout the summer for a single spark to ignite into a major disaster.

Climate change is also changing the current weather forecasting standards.

Based on the average of the past 30 years, the average summer temperature in Canada has increased by about 2 degrees since the late 1940s. This is creating conditions that make wildfires, heat waves, and droughts more frequent and more severe, Gilham explained.

The southern Prairies, including southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba, are expected to experience severe drought. Rainfall is expected to be lower than average, while temperatures are expected to be higher, raising concerns about agricultural damage and water shortages. However, conditions are expected to be somewhat better than in 2012, the worst year in recent years.

The northern Prairies are still expected to have a hot summer, but rainfall is expected to remain at normal levels.

The British Columbia (BC) coast is expected to see near-normal temperatures and precipitation, while the central and southern interior regions are expected to see a hotter and drier summer. The northern regions are also expected to see higher temperatures and should be closely monitored for wildfires. However, the western Yukon is expected to see near-normal temperatures and heavy rain, while northern Baffin Island is expected to see near-normal weather.

This year is expected to see a continued increase in above-average hurricane activity since 2016. Storms could approach the northeastern United States or Atlantic Canada, depending on the jet stream, and Ontario and Quebec could be indirectly affected.

The Maritimes and western Newfoundland are expected to see warmer than normal temperatures and more rain, although occasional cold fronts may cause changes. Eastern Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to see near-normal precipitation.

As Ontario faces a growing shortage of family doctors, a new study says one reason is that doctors are increasingly moving into specialized areas within hospitals, such as emergency medicine, rather than full-service family medicine roles.

The study, which analysed Ontario health data from 1993-94 to 2021-2022 and was published May 28 in the Annals of Family Medicine, found that while the number of family doctors per 100,000 people increased from 104 to 118, the number of family doctors providing comprehensive care decreased from 71 to 64.

Of the 6,310 new family doctors added during that period, about 40 per cent are working in “focused practice” areas — a trend the researchers call “concerning.” “It’s not about simply training more family physicians,” says Dr. Tara Kiran, a family physician and research director at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto. “We have to get them to actually choose to be family physicians in their communities.”

In other words, the structural support and incentive design of the health-care system is key. She says better compensation for transitioning to a professional role is driving the reluctance to provide comprehensive care. The government is aiming for a “family doctor for all residents” by 2029, and an estimated 2.5 million Ontario residents currently live without a family physician. In response, the Doug Ford government has announced a $1.8 billion plan to strengthen primary care, with a goal of creating 80 new or expanded community-based team-based clinics and removing more than 300,000 people from waiting lists.

According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, 621 students were matched in 2024 under the CaRMS (Residency Matching Program) for family medicine, up 113 from the previous year. There are also plans to recruit 1,500 new family doctors through new medical student scholarships for rural and northern areas and the ‘Practice Ready Ontario’ program. But the researchers warn that the supply shortage will persist unless the structural reasons for family doctors moving to specialties are addressed.

In particular, the proportion of families moving to specific specialties such as emergency medicine and addictions care has increased ‘significantly’ over the past 30 years. There are growing alarms that comprehensive, community-based primary care is disappearing.

TD Bank is cutting 2% of its workforce as part of a larger restructuring to streamline the organization and reduce costs.TD Bank is launching a new restructuring program starting in the second quarter of 2025, and about 1,900 of its total workforces of about 95,000 will be affected by the layoffs. The bank expects the restructuring to cost about $600 million to $700 million pre-tax over the next few quarters.

On the other hand, it expects cost savings of about $100 million in 2025 alone and $550 million to $650 million annually in the long term. This is the result of not only the workforce reduction but also overall operational efficiency improvements.

The restructuring comes after TD Bank was fined about $3.1 billion by U.S. regulators last year for anti-money laundering (AML) violations. Former CEO Bharat Masrani said, “I deeply regret what happened during my tenure as CEO, and I apologize to all stakeholders.”

In February, Raymond Chen took office as the new CEO. In the recently announced second-quarter earnings report, Chen emphasized, “The restructuring of assets in the U.S. is progressing smoothly, and we are continuously strengthening our anti-money laundering measures.” He added, “Looking ahead to the second half, we will increase the speed and execution of the organization by improving customer experience, strengthening digital capabilities, and streamlining operations.”

TD Bank added that this restructuring is subject to some fluctuation depending on various variables, such as the possibility of personnel reallocation, length of service, and whether the scale of future reductions will be expanded. Meanwhile, Bell Media also announced additional reductions in February, citing “continued management,” and restructuring movements at major Canadian companies are continuing.

The Toronto Island ferry, a summertime sight in Toronto, is scheduled to be completely replaced with an electric vessel in 2026. However, this large-scale infrastructure project is also experiencing budget overruns and schedule delays.

Every summer, the old and aging existing ferry has been shut down for repairs on weekends or has created waiting lines for hours, causing great inconvenience to citizens. To solve this problem, the city has been pushing for the introduction of an electric ferry for several years, and the first vessel is expected to operate by the end of 2026. The new vessel is expected to be not only environmentally friendly but also more efficient. The problem is the cost.

According to the city, the price of the vessel alone has increased by $67 million compared to the original budget, and the cost of installing onshore charging facilities was not included in the original budget, so an additional several million dollars has been invested. Recently, as the detailed design was completed, the budget cap for improving the charging and docking infrastructure has also been increased by approximately $7.6 million.

The Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, which was newly designed through a public offering 10 years ago, has not even begun construction yet. The design chosen at the time was highly anticipated, but progress has been slow due to constantly changing plans and budgetary issues.

However, according to an update to the Electric Ferry Land Infrastructure Plan released this spring, the city plans to begin initial construction, including terminal site improvements, in the second quarter of this year. Two separate capital projects are also underway to improve the aging dock.

In March, the city also transferred ferry operations from the Parks and Recreation Department to Fleet Services, a vehicle operations specialist, after an external review determined that the city lacked the expertise needed for future modernization.

CreateTO said on its website that terminal construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of this year, and final estimates for the Toronto Hydro power upgrade are expected within that quarter. The city’s position is that the introduction of an electric ferry system will provide more environmentally friendly and efficient access to the island.

Toronto’s real estate market is undergoing a notable shift: renting has become a more financially practical choice than buying a home. Driven by high interest rates, a drop in rental prices, and changing post-pandemic housing dynamics, experts are now calling this the beginning of Toronto’s “rental era.”

According to a new report by real estate market research firm Urbanation, the average condo rent in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) fell to $2,612 per month last quarter—a 10% drop from the peak of $2,925 in Q3 of 2023. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of declining rents, a trend not seen in recent years.

“If you ask me what the cheapest way is to live in Toronto right now, the answer is definitely renting,” said real estate agent Josh Lloyd. Fellow agent Michael Devanathan agreed, pointing out that “if the cost of ownership is more than 20% higher than renting, renting is more economical.”

The recent decline in rent prices is largely attributed to a rise in the supply of newly completed condos. In a bid to reduce vacancies—especially in high-density downtown areas—many landlords are now offering perks such as one to two months of free rent. As Devanathan noted, “Some landlords are trying to avoid vacancies by taking a loss every month. The reality is that rental income is lower than before.”

In this climate, renters have gained greater leverage, particularly in neighbourhoods like CityPlace, Liberty Village, and Fort York, where supply has outpaced demand. Buildings constructed before November 2018—covered by Ontario’s rent control rules—remain particularly attractive, as they offer more predictable rent increases.

While rents are trending downward, home prices in the GTA remain stubbornly high. In March, the average home price stood at $1,093,254, down only 2.5% from the previous year. Compounding the affordability issue are high interest rates and tightened mortgage stress test requirements, both of which have kept many first-time buyers sidelined.

In response, some developers are shifting away from the traditional “build-to-sell” model and toward “purpose-built rentals” designed for long-term leasing. Although only 731 units of such projects were started in Q1 of this year—a 60% drop from the previous year—developers are increasingly exploring rentals as a more stable revenue stream in a cooling sales market.

Despite rent control not applying to many newly built units, Lloyd encourages flexibility: “Even if a good house is not subject to rent control, if it’s the right fit for you, it’s a good idea to make a bold decision.” In today’s market, one-bedroom units in new condos can sometimes be found for as low as $1,800 to $1,900.

Still, many renters remain on the sidelines, waiting for home prices or interest rates to drop further. But experts caution that timing the market is risky. “The bottom is often only recognized after it’s passed,” said Lloyd. “Rather than deciding whether to buy or rent, it’s important to understand your own financial situation.”

As the balance tips in favour of renters, Toronto’s housing market reflects broader shifts in urban living—highlighting a growing preference for flexibility, affordability, and financial prudence.