VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There are new flood concerns for those living along the Fraser Canyon, South Interior, Okanagan, and Kootenays.

Dave Campbell with the River Forecast Centre is warning people living in low-lying areas to prepare for rising water.

“We’ve had a low pressure weather system that’s sitting off Washington and it’s caused this big wrap around of moisture to come into BC and so that’s spreading across those areas that we do have those advisories out to with quite heavy rainfall in the last couple of days,” explains Campbell.

Campbell says the chances of flooding moving closer to the Chilliwack area are pretty low but is urging those living there to be prepared as well.

“Conditions can change quite rapidly so I think just using general caution around rivers this time of year just because they are very dynamic and they can change.  They are flowing swift even if they aren’t flooding per say they can be flowing very high and swiftly.”

He says preparation includes moving any valuables to higher ground and frequently checking pipes for water infiltration.

They are worried about local pollution risks and global greenhouse gas emissions from coal dust.

“Folks in Bellingham, Blaine and Seattle…all the way back to Wyoming have been fighting these coal export plans for years and we realize we have common cause so we are going to work together on strategies with regional mayors and community groups,” says Kevin Washbrook with Voters Taking Action on Climate Change.

Washbrook says they aren’t worried about the fact that groups like the Surrey Board of Trade have given the thumbs up to the expansion.

The project looks to export US coal from Wyoming, transporting it via rail through Washington and up to Surrey and then possibly off to Asia.

Christy Clark made sure to talk about it, as BC Liberals gathered today for the first time since their election win. “We are going to find labour peace in our classrooms.”

“Nobody benefits from having all the adults around the table fighting all the time,” she added.

The premier stood proudly in front of her team, reminding them the hard works begins now that voters have put their trust in them.

While Clark says the economy won them the election, she also still intends to pursue a 10-year deal with teachers. “If teachers had agreed to that 10 years ago, they’d all be making more money today. They have lagged behind the average settlement for the public sector.”

The immediate priority for Clark is to pass the budget and she says there will be a summer legislative session to get that done.

Clark also addressed questions surrounding whether one of her MLAs will step aside and trigger a byelection, after she lost in her own riding to the NDP’s David Eby.

She says she’ll wait until the final election results are in before deciding how to gain a seat in the legislature.

Some on her team, including Norm Letnick in Kelowna – Lake Country, say they would not hesitate. “For me, you know, it’s pretty simple. If she asks, I’ll say yes.”

Others aren’t quite as direct, including Ralph Sultan, whose name has come up during the speculation.  “First of all, it’s not clear that the premier has in fact lost the election. We won’t know for another six or seven days.”

Sultan says as far as he’s concerned, he’s been elected to represent West Vancouver-Capilano.

Sixty-year-old Valentine Webber and his daughters, 22-year-old Diana and 17-year-old Rachel, died along with 64-year-old German national Petra Frehse, when five homes  were destroyed as the massive slide tore the community of Johnsons Landing on July 12, 2012.

Mountains of log-studded debris remains piled as much as 10 metres deep around the shattered homes.

A report by the Regional District of Central Kootenay makes several recommendations to ensure the disaster doesn’t repeat itself, including increased monitoring and public awareness campaigns, but it also suggests the slide was unprecedented in size and nearly impossible to predict.

The report notes there likely hasn’t been a slide of that size in the area since glaciers receded 12,000 years ago.

The regional district says it will study the report’s recommendations before decided what it will do next.

The assault happened on May 12th at Lafarge Lake in Town Centre Park. Police say a family was leaving the park and the young girl told her father a stranger touched her private parts.

Coquitlam RCMP searched for the suspect but were unsuccessful.

The suspect is described as:

• A man in his 30′s
• Possibly white or Middle-Easterner
• Black hair
• Six-feet-tall and slim to medium build
• Clean shaven
• Speaks with an accent.

He was wearing a red/brown shirt and medium blue/grey pants, possibly jeans.

Cpl. Jamie Chung says they are taking this investigation very seriously and are doing extra patrols in the area.

Anyone with information is asked to contact RCMP at (604) 945-1550 or Crime Stoppers.

OMNI TV political analyst Kim Emerson says much of this meeting will be about general housekeeping.

“I think the first order of business will be probably about 10 minutes of collective high fives all around the caucus table. Then they’ll move on to real business, and the real business is all of those people who have been selected, or elected, are still not MLAs. They’ll have explained to them what the process is.”

“They don’t become MLAs until they’re sworn in, and that can’t happen until, at the very earliest, June 5th. After June 5th… then someone can resign so that Christy Clark can run in a by-election,” he adds.

“You’re not going to see her looking at or having a by-election until at least July, maybe August, and a lot of times, people don’t want to run in the summertime because folks are away on vacation,” he adds.

“But they definitely want to have her in the legislature when they sit, and probably, the most likely place that will take place is Ralph Sultan’s riding on the North Shore or, potentially, Linda Reid’s riding.”

Emerson doesn’t expect any major policy announcements from the Liberals until they pass their budget.

Nearly $40 million dollars is being donated by the late Judith Jardine.

The Vancouver Foundation is receiving the bulk of it: $34 million. It will use some of the cash to fight youth homelessness. President and CEO Faye Wightman says 40 per cent of kids in government care eventually end up on the streets

“[A gift like this is] rare nowadays… where it’s unrestricted and where the beneficiary is allowed to use it to the best of their ability,” she tells us.

UBC and the BC Conference of the United Church of Canada were also named beneficiaries.

Will Guest, who graduated from UBC’s medical faculty yesterday, says this money will go a long way.

“It helps to ensure that attending medical school remains accessible to people from all backgrounds and the financial pressures will not compromise medical students’ focus on their studies,” he says.

Little is known about Jardine, who had wealth and privilege. She was the sole survivor of two prominent Vancouver familiies. She never married and died in 2006 after a lengthy battle with dementia.

But unfortunately, you come awfully close.

Recognizing great achievements in Canadian blandness, the inaugural Boring Awards were handed out last night at a somewhat-less-than-riveting, un-gala, even-keeled, and very Canadian event in Toronto.

Ottawa was honoured as Canada’s most boring city, beating out runners-up like Abbotsford and Brampton.

The most boring event of the year was the 64th Annual Tax Conference in Calgary (though it had stiff competition from the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff run).

Who is Canada’s most boring person? Not Avril Lavigne. Not the Bank of Montreal animated character. It’s sturdy, handshake-instead-of-a-hug, slightly-more-interesting-than-a-bowl-of-cold-oatmeal, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The most boring Canadian comment of the year came from former MP Monte Solberg: “Boring and orderly is the Canadian way.”

There was also a nod to this year’s least-boring Canadian, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who narrowly beat out Darwin, the Ikea Monkey (though it was a double-edged sword scenario with the first-ever Boring Awards almost called off due to excitement).

“We know boring,” said Boring Awards Producer Ina Fichman, pointing out Canada has occasionally been characterized as a boring place. “Famously, Canada inspired the most boring headline ever published in the New York Times: ‘Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.’”

The winners were chosen by the Boring Academy, which is made up of a mix of accountants, tax officials, and IT networking specialists.

Whether we’re off to the beach, the gym, or the bar, the poll from Wakefield Research suggests we are getting more and more frustrated with having to haul our cash around.

Seventy-five per cent of us admit we’ve been unable to pay for something because we didn’t have the cash in our pocket; teens and those in their 20s are those most likely to have that beef.

So, what will you replace your wallet with? Your smartphone.

Keep one thing in mind though: this survey was done for PayPal.

Businesses are expecting a huge economic boost; for each cruise that stops in Vancouver over the summer, it’s about a $2-million contribution to the local economy.

Stephen Pearce with Tourism Vancouver says a big difference this year is we’ll be seeing some ships making their return to our city. “The Disney Wonder’s coming back; it was last here in 2011. The Norwegian Sun is coming back; we saw it in 2010.”

Tourism Vancouver expects over 800,000 passengers. Americans make up most of our tourists (57 per cent) but recently, we’ve seen a bigger boost from those overseas.

“The United Kingdom, for example… Australia, and we’re starting to see growth in cruises from China that are going to Alaska from Vancouver,” says Pearce.

About a quarter of cruise ship tourists come from elsewhere in Canada.

Pearce estimates Vancouver will see a total of 17 ships and about 270 port calls over the course of this season. He adds cruise ship tourists spend at least 2.6 nights in Vancouver.