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B.C. NDP Leader Eby campaigns in Vancouver, while Tories heads to Surrey
B.C. election trail hits Vancouver, Surrey
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby campaigns in Vancouver and Richmond today after wrapping his swing through the vote-rich city of Surrey with a rally.
Hundreds of people attended the gathering near City Hall on Wednesday.
Eby made six stops in the Surrey-Delta area throughout the day to meet with seniors and visit a trucking company.
Meanwhile, interim B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson is set to make an announcement in B.C.'s second-largest city, where 10 ridings are up for grabs.
He's also expected to hold a rally in Surrey later tonight.
Advance voting also wrapped up on Wednesday, ahead of Saturday's election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
By Wolfgang Depner | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Lower courts' reasoning 'neuters' Emergencies Act, government tells Supreme Court
Courts' reasoning 'neuters' Emergencies Act: feds
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The federal government says the courts engaged in "second-guessing with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight" when they ruled it lacked legal justification to use the Emergencies Act four years ago to quell protests.
Lawyers for the government make the argument in a submission seeking a Supreme Court of Canada hearing of the federal case for invoking the emergencies law to deal with protest actions in the national capital and at key border points.
The top court is slated to rule Thursday on whether to grant the government leave to appeal.
For about three weeks in January and February 2022, downtown Ottawa was filled with protesters, including many in large trucks that blocked streets around Parliament Hill.
While many protesters demonstrated against COVID-19 health restrictions, the "Freedom Convoy" protests also attracted some with a variety of grievances against then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and his government.
Trucks also jammed key border crossings to the United States, including routes at Windsor, Ont., and Coutts, Alta.
On Feb. 14, 2022, the government invoked the Emergencies Act, which allowed for temporary measures, including regulation and prohibition of public assemblies, the designation of secure places, direction to banks to freeze assets, and a ban on support for protest participants.
It was the first time the law had been used since it replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.
In a Feb. 15 letter to premiers, Trudeau said the federal government believed it had reached a point "where there is a national emergency arising from threats to Canada's security.''
The Public Order Emergency Commission, which carried out a mandatory review after the act was used, concluded in early 2023 that the federal government had met the very high legal standard for using the law.
The Trudeau government's move was also scrutinized in Federal Court.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and several other groups and individuals argued that Ottawa lacked sound statutory grounds to deploy the emergency measures.
The government said the steps taken to deal with the turmoil were targeted, proportional and time-limited, and complied with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Richard Mosley, the Federal Court judge who heard the case, concluded the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act did not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness — justification, transparency and intelligibility — and was not supported in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints.
Ultimately, there "was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act," Mosley said in his January 2024 ruling.
In January of this year, a three-judge panel of the Federal Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed that ruling.
The Court of Appeal said that as disturbing and disruptive as the blockades and the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa could be, "they fell well short of a threat to national security."
In its written submission requesting a Supreme Court hearing, the government says the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal "applied the wrong principles on judicial review."
The courts should have asked whether — based on the information available at the time — federal officials acted reasonably in concluding a public order emergency existed, the submission says.
"Instead, they asked, with the benefit of hindsight, whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that a public order emergency existed."
In the end, both courts applied their own view of what was reasonable, the government says.
"This non-deferential approach hamstrings governments' ability to respond effectively to future crises, neuters the Act" and conflicts with the Supreme Court's administrative law rulings over the years, the submission says.
"It amounts to second-guessing with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight," the government adds.
"In the end, no one disputes that emergency measures should be a temporary means of last resort. But that does not mean those measures should be available only in the most dire and extreme circumstances."
In its submission to the Supreme Court, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association says the government should be denied leave to appeal because it is attempting to relitigate "the same issues and arguments the Court of Appeal dismissed."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
By Jim Bronskill | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Alleged Tumbler Ridge mass shooting conspirator set to enter plea in U.S. court
Tumbler Ridge conspiracy suspect set to enter plea
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lois Silver
The alleged co-conspirator in the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is expected to enter a plea at an arraignment in a Seattle courthouse today.
A grand jury in Washington state last week indicted 30-year-old James Bryant for conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.
The criminal complaint against Bryant, who uses female pronouns and goes by the name Melody, alleges she colluded with shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar online, helping set up an attempted livestream of the murders.
The complaint says Bryant also advised 18-year-old Van Rootselaar on where to carry out the attack and sent the shooter money to buy a lighter for an explosive device.
Van Rootselaar killed eight victims last February, including five students and an educational assistant at the local secondary school, before she fatally shot herself as police closed in.
Bryant has been denied bail.
A statement from the U.S. Justice Department says conspiracy to murder in a foreign country is punishable by up to life in prison.
It cautions that the accusations against Bryant remain unproven.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
By Brenna Owen | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Des milliers de demandes pour joindre le 111 Private Club, selon James William Awad
Il confie à Narcity ce que ça prend pour être admis.
Après avoir fait les manchettes à répétition à cause d'un party à bord d'un avion nolisé de Sunwing, le 111 Private Club, derrière l'organisation de ce voyage pour le Nouvel An, est sur toutes les lèvres. L'homme derrière ce club est James William Awad, et il confie à Narcity que la controverse n'a pas nui à l'attrait pour le club privé qui compte exactement 1 082 membres québécois, au contraire.
Ce sont « des milliers » de personnes qui auraient contacté le club privé de la métropole au cours de la dernière semaine, dans le but de s'y joindre, alors qu'il y aurait actuellement « des centaines de personnes en attente d'approbation ».
Si, plus tôt ce mois-ci, la page officielle du club privé avait partagé qu'on pouvait s'y joindre en la contactant directement, le discours a dû changer. James William Awad, connu sous son nom d'artiste Senior, nous raconte que les personnes devront absolument avoir une invitation d'un membre pour faire partie de la bande et les nouveaux membres pourront se joindre à compter de février 2022 s'ils passent l'entrevue vidéo et sont sélectionnés par James William, qui passe les entretiens lui-même.
Qu'est-ce qu'on demande lors de cet entretien? James William Awad veut évaluer « la personnalité, l'énergie, le vibe, s'assurer qu'ils comprennent les règles, connaître leur âge, leur passé, et leur statut en général dans la société ». Questionné sur ce dernier point, le fondateur explique qu'il fait référence à « l'emploi, l'éducation et un dossier non criminel ».
Malgré ce qu'on pourrait croire, les membres actifs ne peuvent distribuer des invitations comme des bonbons à l'Halloween.
« Les membres ont tous des codes d'invitation. Ils gagnent des codes d'invitation en venant aux événements, etc. Avec ces codes d'invitation, ils peuvent inviter des gens. »
Toutefois, il faut bien choisir les gens invités, parce que si tu invites la mauvaise personne, il y a des conséquences : « s’ils [les membres] invitent quelqu'un qui se fait bannir, ils ne peuvent plus inviter personne. » Le fondateur raconte d'ailleurs que des gens se font régulièrement bannir : « à chaque événement on bannit des gens. » La saga de Tulum n'a pas fait exception à la règle, même si l'identité de ces personnes bannies n'est pas dévoilée.
Bien que la saga de Tulum est le premier événement à avoir une aussi grande visibilité, James William confirme que ce n'était pas le premier rassemblement pour ses membres. On nous a confié quelques événements qui ont eu lieu en 2021 : Chalet in Trois-Rivières, le 4 juin, Pool party, le 3 juillet, The Wolf of Wall Street, le 28 août, Tulum Montréal le 24 septembre et Halloween Part I le 30 octobre.
Selon lui, tous les événements susnommés ont été des succès et d'autres sont à venir. Alors, pourquoi faire des événements privés et non des partys ouverts à tous pour attirer plus de personnes? Il explique vouloir contrôler la qualité, le ratio d'hommes et de femmes et « avoir des événements sécurisés et successful. »
Pour l'instant, il est normal de supposer que tous ses événements au Québec seront suspendus alors que les rassemblements sont interdits jusqu'à nouvel ordre au Québec, en vertu de la Loi sur la santé publique.
L'homme derrière le 111 Private Club confirme qu'un prochain voyage est déjà planifié : « on part en Grèce pour le prochain voyage ». Il n'a pas commenté Tulum au moment de publier ces lignes, alors qu'il s'expose à une amende de 100 000 $, rapporte le Journal de Montréal. L'organisateur du party n'est pas titulaire d'un permis d’agent de voyages, et l’Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) procèderait actuellement à des vérifications.