In the wake of a destructive year of party infighting, the interim leader of the BC Conservatives says his caucus could do with more structure and less free speech.

Trevor Halford leads the province’s Official Opposition while the Conservative Party organizes a leadership contest to replace John Rustad, who was forced to resign in early December after a revolt by both his caucus and party executive.

Flood waters began to recede from the Fraser Valley on Friday, leaving residents and farmers to assess damage and demand answers as to why more hasn’t been done to heed lessons from the devastating B.C. floods of four years ago.

Poultry farmer Corry Spitters said this year’s flooding rose to within an inch of one of his chicken barns.

New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal has ruled that an Indigenous group cannot seek a declaration of Aboriginal title over private property, saying the harm to private property rights would undermine Canada’s efforts at reconciliation with First Nations.

The decision Thursday overturns a lower-court ruling that would have allowed the Wolastoqey Nation to lay claim to privately owned industrial lands as part of their broader Aboriginal title case. It is in strong contrast with a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling that has cast private property rights into question.

British Columbia Premier David Eby lashed out at the judiciary on Wednesday, saying two recent decisions on Indigenous rights and title jeopardize the provincial economy and threaten progress on reconciliation that has paved the way for $100-billion worth of resource projects.

Speaking at a business luncheon with the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Eby took aim at a provincial Supreme Court decision that awarded Aboriginal title in a developed part of Metro Vancouver that includes private lands, as well as last Friday’s B.C. Court of Appeal decision that set a binding obligation on government to abide by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in existing legislation.

British Columbia’s NDP government will amend its landmark reconciliation law, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, in response to a BC Court of Appeal decision that found the province’s mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with the requirements of DRIPA.

The court’s judgment on Friday establishes a new benchmark for the implementation of the declaration, which was passed unanimously by the B.C. legislature in 2019, creating a binding obligation on government to abide by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP.

Hours after John Rustad resigned as leader of the BC Conservative Party Thursday, his former caucus members gathered outside the provincial legislature’s marble-clad library to rally around an interim leader, promising unity after an extended period of internal warfare.

Mr. Rustad had faced months of pressure to step down over his failure to contain the fractured caucus.

The B.C. legislature was in turmoil Wednesday after BC Conservatives attempted to oust their leader, John Rustad, by declaring him unfit for the job.

A lawyer’s letter released by the Conservative Party said 20 members of the Official Opposition caucus – a bare majority – had lost confidence in Mr. Rustad. The party’s board declared a new interim leader, MLA Trevor Halford, to serve while it begins the preparations for a leadership contest.

B.C. Premier David Eby says a pledge for an oil pipeline in a new energy accord between the federal government and Alberta is a distraction from real projects, as he called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to immediately meet with the Coastal First Nations in his province to discuss the plan.

Other premiers, however, expressed support for the pipeline proposal, and said they are also in discussions with Ottawa on agreements for their own provinces.

In a corner of carver Richard Pollard’s workshop in the back of his Bella Coola home is a small replica of the wood-hewn memorial he is making for his brother. It is a grizzly bear holding a copper shield, a symbol of high honour.

“I wanted to make something worthy of my brother,” he said.

B.C. conservation officers captured two grizzlies near Bella Coola on Monday, but could not confirm yet whether either bear was responsible for a horrific recent attack on a school group.

The tense search near the Nuxalk First Nation community continues, but Chief Samuel Schooner said in an interview he is confident the bear or bears involved in the Nov. 20 attack will be captured.

Members of the Nuxalk First Nation remained in virtual lockdown this weekend, urged to stay in their homes as authorities searched for a mother grizzly bear and two cubs believed to be involved in the recent attack on a large group of elementary-school students.

In the remote Nuxalk community of 4 Mile, adjacent to Bella Coola on the central coast, residents who are comfortable being outdoors have been told to leave the search to others.

The search for a Grizzly bear – and possibly her two cubs – believed to be responsible for a shocking attack on a school group in this central coast community expanded on Saturday, with a predator attack response team on the ground and an RCMP helicopter searching for heat signatures in the dense forest.

Four people – a teacher and three young students – were airlifted to hospital Thursday after the attack. They were among a school group of Grades 4 and 5 students. In all, 11 were injured. Bear behavourists say the attack on such a large group is exceptionally rare.

Educators used bear spray, bear bangers and anything they could to fend off a grizzly bear that attacked their Grade 4 and 5 students on a field trip into the woods on B.C.’s central coast.

Four people – one adult and three children – were badly mauled Thursday in the coastal community of Bella Coola and were airlifted to hospital in Vancouver, with two in critical condition, BC Emergency Health Services said. Seven others were treated for mild injuries and nine students from the Acwsalcta School unscathed, authorities said.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday that his counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan are jeopardizing major economic development by engaging in what he called “secret” talks with Ottawa on oil pipelines through his province.

The pipeline fight escalated earlier in the day after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe revealed he is involved in Alberta’s negotiations with Ottawa about a potential oil pipeline across northern B.C., which would mean allowing oil tankers to ply the waters off B.C.’s north coast, where they are currently banned.

The B.C. government has not been a party to those talks, and Mr. Eby said he learned about them through media reports.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday that his counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan are jeopardizing major economic development by engaging in what he called “secret” talks with Ottawa on oil pipelines through his province.

The pipeline fight escalated earlier in the day after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe revealed he is involved in Alberta’s negotiations with Ottawa about a potential oil pipeline across northern B.C., which would mean allowing oil tankers to ply the waters off B.C.’s north coast, where they are currently banned.

The British Columbia government is backing a proposal to move more Alberta crude oil to the West Coast. The plan aims to increase the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline system by roughly 40 per cent, with results as early as 2026.

It is a sharp reversal from a government that once fiercely opposed the initial Trans Mountain expansion, arguing when it was proposed that increased shipping traffic would put B.C.’s marine environment at risk.

British Columbia will introduce changes to water down its legislated electric vehicle sales mandate next spring. The changes are part of a broader policy repositioning in a province that was once a global leader in climate action.

Adrian Dix, B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, said Tuesday the province’s current targets, which require 90 per cent EV sales by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035, are no longer realistic.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to add the North Coast Transmission Line in British Columbia and the Nouveau Monde Graphite NOU-T battery project in Quebec to his government’s list of nation-building projects, a source told The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Carney is expected to announce the two additions to the list in northern British Columbia on Thursday, as part of the second group of developments to be fast-tracked by his government through Ottawa’s Major Projects Office. An initial group of five projects was announced in September.