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Ballots cast on election day in B.C. will be counted by hand, Elections BC says
B.C. election day ballots will be counted by hand
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
It's the last full day of campaigning in British Columbia's election ahead of final voting day Saturday, when most ballots will be counted by hand.
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 be counted with electronic tabulators, and it expects those results to be reported first.
Elections BC also says the election-night count will not include absentee or main-in ballots, which will be tallied at the final count scheduled Nov. 6 to Nov. 10.
Advance voting numbers released Thursday were down more than 11 per cent compared to 2024, bucking a two-decade upward trend.
There were more than 891,000 advance votes cast from Friday to Wednesday, representing about 24 per cent of all registered voters.
That compares to more than one million advance votes cast in 2024, when numbers spiked 49 per cent over the previous election.
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.
"In past elections first results typically started to be reported around 45 minutes after polls closed," it said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Singapore firm set to buy shut Yukon mine for $140M, promises $1.4B in investment
Singapore-based company set to buy shut Yukon mine
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A Singapore-based mining company has entered an agreement to acquire the beleaguered Eagle Gold mine in the Yukon for $140 million, more than two years after it was shut down following a massive collapse, with plans to invest a further $1.4 billion in operations and other costs.
A statement from Boroo Pte. says that if the deal is approved by the court, it would come with planned capital investment of about $800 million between 2027 and 2029 for environmental rehabilitation, water treatment infrastructure, geotechnical stabilization, and "phased restart activities."
The company says it would also spend more than $600 million over the initial life of the mine "to support and extend mining operations."
The 2024 failure at Eagle Gold's heap-leach facility released about two-million tonnes of cyanide-laced ore and water into the environment, leading to control of the mine being taken over by a court-appointed receiver.
Boroo says that since it entered an exclusivity agreement in April to potentially buy the site it has deployed "substantial technical, environmental, and financial resources" and come up with its own plan aimed at "stabilizing the site, completing environmental remediation activities and restarting the mine."
The Yukon government is expected to hold a news conference and Boroo's statement says the plan is to ask a judge approve the proposed transaction this December.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Some government websites still down in response to security risk
Some federal sites still down after security risk
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Some federal government websites are still out of commission as Ottawa takes precautions against a global security risk.
Governments and corporations worked throughout the night on urgent security updates after the AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language vital to 70 per cent of websites globally.
The office of the federal government's chief information officer says security updates are being applied and some government websites may be temporarily unavailable or experience service disruptions while the measures are being implemented.
The office says work is underway to restore access as quickly and securely as possible.
There is no indication that any federal systems have been compromised, the office says.
Artificial intelligence agents helped uncover the vulnerabilities and OpenAI says it has led a coalition of researchers, security providers and others to address vulnerabilities in PHP over the past two months.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press
By Catherine Morrison | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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A TikToker Called Out The Big Ice Cube In Her $18 Cocktail & It Backfired On Her So Fast
"This was highway robbery!"
If you’ve gone out for drinks recently, you know that dropping $18 on a cocktail that’s mostly made of ice is pretty standard.
However, that’s not how TikToker Mabel Martinez felt when her server dropped off her drink with a king ice cube in it, so she turned to social media and put the restaurant on blast.
“This restaurant expected me to pay $18 for a block of ice,” wrote Martinez over top of her video.
“The waiter was super nice, and he ended up giving us a full glass,” Martinez continued in her video caption. “But this was highway robbery! Not okay! Full review coming soon!”
Martinez regularly reviews New York City restaurants on her TikTok, but her cocktail review of Hidden Leaf didn't turn out the way she expected.
TikTok users absolutely dragged her in the comments, with many refusing to give her any room for her big ice cube issue.
One commenter asked: “Damn… you never been out before, huh?”
"Tell us its your 21st birthday without telling us its your 21st birthday," said a second person.
“Sweetie, you’re paying for the 1.5 oz of liquor,” wrote another.
“Yes, that’s how a cocktail is made,” added yet another critic.
Yikes.
Most of the comments called Martinez out for not knowing the basics of how a cocktail is made, which includes putting a big ice cube in the glass to fill it up.
“Comment section isn’t going the way you thought it would,” reads one comment.
One helpful person explained that “you get the same amount of alcohol regardless of the ice” and that other drinks have extra ingredients, making them look fuller.
“I feel like every month; people are discovering cocktails are only 1.5 or 2oz of liquor. The norm across the industry,” wrote another comment.
So the next time your drink comes with a giant ice cube in it, just remember: you're getting the alcohol you paid for, and the ice is just for show!