Five stories in the news today, Aug. 2

Five stories in the news today from The Canadian Press:

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FOREIGN HOMEBUYER TAX IN B.C. TAKES EFFECT:

A 15 per cent tax on foreign homebuyers in Metro Vancouver takes effect today. It was introduced by the British Columbia government with the intent of improving home affordability in Metro Vancouver, where house prices are among the highest in North America. Finance Minister Mike de Jong says the province will monitor whether the tax reduces foreign demand and opens up more housing options to British Columbians in the coming months.

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VANCOUVER PROPERTY TAX SPARKS CONCERN IN TORONTO

Realtors say Toronto’s red-hot real estate market could get even hotter as foreign nationals looking to dodge a new 15 per cent tax on properties in Vancouver seek new places to invest. Dianne Usher, a Toronto-based realtor with Royal LePage, says some foreign buyers have already been flocking to Toronto as soaring home values have priced them out of Vancouver’s market.

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FEDERAL APPROVAL FOR SITE C SPARKS OUTRAGE

First Nations, landowners and environmental groups are accusing Justin Trudeau of reneging on promises made during last year’s election campaign as the federal government quietly authorizes construction to ramp up for a controversial hydro dam proposed for northeastern British Columbia. In a permitting document issued without fanfare late Friday before the August long weekend, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada authorized B.C.’s power utility to move ahead with Site C.

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CHURCHILL FALLS: HYDRO-QUEBEC WINS AT APPELATE COURT

Hydro-Quebec has won another legal round against Newfoundland and Labrador over that province’s efforts to modify a 1969 agreement with the utility over Churchill Falls power. The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a 2014 lower court ruling Monday, agreeing that the provincially owned power utility is under no obligation to revisit the deal as Newfoundland and Labrador has wanted.

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BAIN TOLD DOCTOR HE COULD BE JUDGED ‘CRAZY’

Accused election night shooter Richard Henry Bain told a forensic psychiatrist in 2012 he could be judged “crazy” and sent to a mental institution, his first-degree murder trial heard Monday. Bain made the comments in writing to questions posed by forensic psychiatrist Marie-Frederique Allard during an interview on Nov. 9, 2012, a little more than two months after he allegedly started shooting outside the Parti Quebecois election headquarters, killing a lighting technician.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY:

— The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions will release a report on how hospital funding in Ontario is much lower than the rest of Canada.

— Service Alberta Minister Stephanie McLean will discuss new payday lending laws at a Calgary news conference. 

— Nike will unveil the new Team Canada hockey jersey in Toronto.

The Canadian Press