National News

VANCOUVER — British Columbia should be well into its rainy season, but hot and dry weather that lasted through most of October has created drought conditions.

OTTAWA — Federal regulations aimed at capping the number of handguns in Canada took effect Friday amid concerns from firearm-control advocates that MPs will weaken the effect through changes to accompanying legislation.

VANCOUVER — The first showers since September began falling in parts of Metro Vancouver before dawn, but officials in many coastal communities doubt a series of incoming weather systems will relieve the drought gripping parts of British Columbia.

WINNIPEG — Mounties have confirmed some of the movements of members of an Indian migrant family who froze to death near the U.S.

NORMAN WELLS, N.W.T. — RCMP in the Northwest Territories have seized several firearms, as well as swords and ammunition, from a property in Norman Wells. Police say on Monday they executed a search warrant at a home in the community.

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Oct. 21 ... What we are watching in Canada ...

VANCOUVER — Police have become de facto social workers for people who lack support services while struggling with homelessness, mental illness and substance use, a spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department says. Sgt.

First Nations and environmentalists say they are angry the federal and British Columbia governments continue to stonewall American requests for a joint investigation of cross-border contamination from coal mining as meetings of the panel that mediate

OTTAWA — Conservative Alberta MP Bob Benzen has announced he's retiring. The representative for Calgary Heritage says in a statement that he plans to leave at the end of the year.

VICTORIA — B.C.'s premier-in-waiting says the supporters of his disqualified rival can find a home in the party he is set to lead.