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B.C. election at a glance: Hand count for most votes due to snap call's 'logistics'
B.C. election: Hand count for most votes
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
It's the last full day of campaigning in British Columbia's election ahead of final voting day Saturday.
Here's a look at some of the latest developments on the campaign trail.
HAND COUNT FOR MOST BALLOTS
Elections BC has confirmed that votes cast on election day will be tallied manually, in a departure from 2024, when electronic tabulators were used to count paper ballots for the first time in a general election.
That was hailed as a success in Elections BC's report on the polls, but the agency says in a statement that it's going back to a manual count due to "short time frames and complex operational logistics of a snap election."
It says paper ballots cast at advance polling stations and at district electoral offices will still be counted with electronic tabulators, and it expects those results to be reported first after ballots close at 8 p.m.
Elections BC also says the election-night count will not include absentee or mail-in ballots, which will be tallied at the final count scheduled for Nov. 6 to Nov. 10.
Elections BC's report on the 2024 election says electronic tabulation allowed the first preliminary results to be reported within five minutes of polls closing, and 59 per cent of preliminary results to reported within half an hour.
It said that in past elections first results typically started to be reported around 45 minutes after polls closed.
DOERKSON RALLIES WITH CLARK AND MCCALLUM
The B.C. Conservatives held a rally in Surrey on Thursday night, with mayor-elect Doug McCallum endorsing Lorne Doerkson as the province's next premier.
Also present at the rally were former B.C. premier Christy Clark, and former Surrey mayors Linda Hepner and Dianne Watts.
McCallum told the rally that he was standing with people who had changed Surrey and it was time to change B.C.
The 82-year-old McCallum is about to embark on his third separate stint as Surrey's mayor, after defeating incumbent Brenda Locke in the Oct. 17 municipal elections.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
By Canadian Press Staff | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Publishers rely on trust, not tech, to ensure books aren't AI-generated
Publishers rely on trust to ensure books aren't AI
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
In the absence of surefire technology to determine whether something was written by artificial intelligence, some Canadian publishers say they have to rely on something nearly as thorny: trust.
Alana Wilcox, the editorial director of Coach House Books, wrote in an email that the company asks writers to be upfront about whether their work contains material generated by AI.
She says the existing tools to discern the use of AI aren't reliable.
There is renewed attention on the role of artificial intelligence in the book industry after a Quebec publisher cut ties with an author accused of using AI to write his debut novel.
Earlier this week, Montreal-based publishing house Les Éditions du Boréal said an analysis of some documents' metadata found evidence author Thélyson Orélien used AI while writing his novel "C’était ça ou mourir" ("It was either that or dying").
Allegations that Orélien used AI in his book first emerged on social media in September. The author denied using AI to write the book but said he had used it for research. Orélien did not respond to The Canadian Press’ request for comment following the publisher's announcement on Wednesday.
Before the controversy, the novel had been nominated for several major French literary awards and won the Prix du Roman Fnac. It has since been removed from contention for France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt.
Les Éditions du Boréal didn't specify which metadata showed the AI use.
And while the allegations against Orélien illustrate that trust may not always be enough, Wilcox said Coach House Books doesn't see much of an alternative.
"Our contract asks the author to affirm that their book does not contain AI-generated material. But there is no reliable way to police this: the tools that exist have proven unreliable and problematic in countless ways," she wrote.
"Nor are we interested in supporting systems that were trained on stolen material — our books," she added, referencing the fact that AI detection tools are, themselves, artificial intelligence.
Lisa Quinn, president of the Association of Canadian Publishers, said AI technology is a broad descriptor and there is nuance in how assistive AI tools can be used in the publishing industry.
But she says "the publishing industry strongly believes that artistic creation, intellectual creation is a human-centred activity."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
By Kaitlyn McGrath | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Alberta introduces new flag rules and restrictions for all schools starting in 2027
Alberta introduces new flag rules for schools
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The Alberta government has announced new rules on when, how, and what flags can be displayed at schools.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the flags of Canada and Alberta must be flown outside schools during the school year.
Other flags -- including the Franco-Albertan flag, municipal flags and the Royal Union Flag -- can be displayed on specified days.
First Nations and Metis Settlement flags and foreign national flags can be displayed inside a school building during official occasions and on other specified days.
No other flag displays are permitted without permission from the province.
The new rules begin on Jan. 4, 2027.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Cardi B Watched A Yacht Sink On Vacation & Her Video Commentary Is Hilarious
"Child, that sh*t is in Bikini Bottom!"
Cardi B might've missed her calling as an on-air sports reporter, after giving followers her live commentary on a sinking yacht outside her window.
The Bodak Yellow singer had followers cracking up over the weekend with the video on her social media, where she gives a running play-by-play of the boat as it goes down outside her luxury villa.
"What the f*ck. Oh my ... It's sinking! Y'all see that? Y'all see that?" she says in the video.
"Oh my God, they can't do nothing about it. There ain't no big boat that can save it? It's gone! It's gone! Bye bye! Bye ... Oh my God, it's gone!"
She later clarified in her Instagram stories that nobody was on the boat when it sunk, so she was only laughing at the sight of millions of dollars going under the waves.
"A whole yacht sinked in front our face. Luckily no one was in there," she said in the stories.
The artist later updated her followers with the full story, letting them know that divers were going to search for where the boat had sunk.
"Update, y'all. So, there's a search team looking for the boat. I just saw a scuba diver going down there ... child, that sh*t is in Bikini Bottom. That b*tch long gone! SpongeBob is auctioning that b*tch," she said.
People reports that Cardi's husband, rapper Offset, also posted his own version of the video on his Instagram stories. While surely his fans engaged, they probably didn't laugh as hard as Cardi's did.