B.C. hospitals pivot to paper amid CrowdStrike global technology outage

B.C. hospitals pivot to paper amid CrowdStrike global technology outage

VANCOUVER - About 50,000 devices in British Columbia hospitals and health facilities were impacted by the CrowdStrike global technology outage, forcing staff to pivot to using paper to manage everything from lab work to meal orders, the province's health minister said.

Adrian Dix said experts began immediately working on the problem, which has impacted computers running Microsoft Windows, and that the systems are beginning to come back online.

Dix said Friday that 30,000 of the impacted devices belonged to health authorities in the Lower Mainland and the event had "a profound impact on staff" across the province, but they did everything possible to limit the impact on patients.

"Say you're opening an urgent and primary care centre at eight in the morning, and your systems are affected. You have to adapt and then try and keep it as normal as possible," he said.

Katie Zacharia and the telling of lies

U.S. President Donald Trump’s new press secretary made her debut last week and was almost universally panned and parodied, lasting just five days before being fired.

Police HQ report ‘outrageous’: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says public inquiry findings that taxpayers were overcharged more than $40 million for the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project and two city leaders broke the public trust are “outrageous.”

Inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang’s report, which was released Monday, concluded former mayor Sam Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, while the city’s former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

Smorang also found the city was overcharged $43.3 million for the project, with $42 million of that going to key contractor Caspian Projects.

“It’s outrageous that people who were elected betrayed the public here in the city. It’s outrageous that there were people in business who ripped you off, ripped me off — I was paying property taxes in Winnipeg at the time — and ripped all of us off to the tune of $43.3 million. That’s crazy,” said Kinew.

Manitoba First Nation taking federal government, department to court over damage to sturgeon population

A remote Manitoba First Nation is taking the federal government to court over claims a Manitoba Hydro project is hurting the sturgeon population in the lower Churchill River.

In an Oct. 15 statement of claim filed in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench, Tataskweyak Cree Nation said the Churchill River diversion operated by Manitoba Hydro has had widespread ecological effects and damaged sturgeon populations in the area.

The lawsuit alleges Ottawa has breached its treaty obligations to protect the community’s right to harvest the fish.

The lawsuit names both His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, the minister of fisheries and Oceans Canada as defendants.

Policy change gives Manitoba renters a break from proposed hikes

Aidan Wilson said he was reduced to tears after getting a call from Premier Wab Kinew’s office.

He’d just learned tenants of a West Broadway apartment, including himself, would no longer pay a hundreds-of-dollars monthly rent increase as of Nov. 1.

“It’s been a lot to deal with, it’s a lot to push for, and it’s a lot to speak up. All of these emotions just kind of came flooding out,” Wilson said Tuesday at a news conference alongside Kinew.

The premier announced that renters will not have to pay the increases until the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch hears landlords’ arguments and issues its decisions.

A bigger police force won’t guarantee less crime

Public safety was front and centre at two Winnipeg mayoral debates Wednesday, with candidates promising more police officers, tougher responses to crime and a safer city.

But while there was plenty of talk about adding cops, there was less discussion about a more complicated question: will hiring more police officers actually reduce crime?

It’s an important distinction for voters to consider as they head to the polls Oct. 28.

Winnipeg needs more police officers. The number of officers per capita has fallen significantly over the past decade, and the police service needs adequate staffing to respond to calls, investigate offences and hold criminals accountable.