Local News

Pressure-cooker bombs like those left at the legislature on Canada Day would have had a “devastating” effect if they had exploded in the presence of a large crowd, possibly injuring hundreds.

SURREY — A Surrey couple charged with plotting a terrorist attack against the B.C. legislature lived on welfare, visited a local mosque and listened to radical Islamist tapes in their basement suite, their landlady said Tuesday.

Saanich has closed Gorge Road West between Tillicum and Admirals roads until the fall in order to replace old sewer lines.

Victoria was also the a focal point for a major terrorism-related story that began in December 1999, when al-Qaeda-trained Ahmed Ressam was detained after an alert U.S. customs agent became suspicious of his nervous manner.

Police have foiled a terrorist plot to explode three bombs filled with rusty nails near thousands of people attending Canada Day celebrations at the B.C. legislature, the RCMP said Tuesday.

Thousands of residents and visitors descended on downtown Victoria on Monday to take part in Canada’s 146th birthday celebrations.

Asked what Canadians might not appreciate about Canada, Olga Voyloshnikova pauses, then replies with a practical observation: “the roads.” Really. They’re well-paved, unbroken and you can ride your bike without taking a header.

On the same day flames ripped through Rockland Manor, leaving 18 people homeless, the boarding house was to be inspected by fire, police and health officials. A blaze broke out on the top floor of Rockland Manor at 1:50 a.m.

It was hot, but not record-breaking hot. Sunny skies and warm temperatures made for a bright Canada Day on Vancouver Island, but didn’t push the mercury into all-time-high territory, said Environment Canada meteorologist John McIntyre.

Four Victoria teens got an up-close view of country-pop superstar Taylor Swift on the weekend, after a chance meeting with Swift’s mother.