Depleted shelves continue to be a problem at People’s Pharmacy in Colwood.
“Overall, cold and flu products are still on a massive shortage,” said the store's pharmacist Yoshi Ito.
A lack of cold and flu medicine – especially for kids – persists at pharmacies across Vancouver Island and across the province.
Darcie Looyen orders the supplies for the Fort Street location of Fort Royal Pharmacy. She says it's a daily grind.
“It's been horrible, to be honest,” said Looyen Wednesday.
“So I find that every single day I’m checking for Buckley’s, Tylenol, any generic alternatives.”
Health Minister Adrian Dix said Wednesday he's alive to the ongoing problem.
“It continues to be just a significant challenge – and it causes a lot of worry for people,” said Dix.
Alberta resorted this week to importing millions of doses of cold and flu drugs directly from a company in turkey, even planning to sell some to other provinces.
“I want Albertans to know that their government took the actions necessary to ensure a supply as along as worldwide shortages will last,” said Alberta Health Minster Jason Copping on Monday.
Dix said Wednesday B.C. isn’t interested in that approach, favouring a partnership with Ottawa instead.
“I wish them well with what they’re trying to do, but our plan is to work closely with the federal government to bring in – to continue to bring in – cold and flu medication,” Dix said.
With cold, flu and RSV seasons tapering off, most pharmacies say demand for medication has dropped modestly. Still, Ito says the shelves are bare enough at his store, he’d welcome innovative plans to stock them – including meds from turkey.
“There’s no other options, I think it’s a great idea for now,” he said.
Of course, just as flu season winds down, allergy season is about to take hold.
The good news is, so far, shelves across the region are robust with allergy medications.
The federal budget implementation bill passed the House of Commons on Thursday, after days of Conservative attempts to block it.
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
In the wake of the Bank of Canada’s unexpected rate hike, economists are pointing to further tightening in the near term.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
As bystanders screamed for help, a man with a knife stabbed four young children at a lakeside park in the French Alps on Thursday, assaulting at least one in a stroller repeatedly. The children between 22 months and 3 years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.
Government House Leader Mark Holland has unveiled the federal Liberals' plans to make hybrid sittings a permanent feature in the House of Commons.
The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.
Smoke has eased in much of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, but air quality advisories remain in place.
A youth curling coach who was a three-time Brazilian champion in the sport has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference, according to authorities in B.C.
Police in Port Moody are asking the public for help locating a young couple that hasn't been seen in two weeks.
An evacuation order was issued for an area near the McLeod River in Yellowhead County on Thursday at noon.
A self-proclaimed spiritual leader and his wife are facing more sexual assault charges, Edmonton police announced Thursday.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing down an earlier pledge to create a council of defeated Edmonton candidates to advise her.
Video has surfaced showing a Mississauga, Ont. transit bus plowing into stopped traffic in a crash that left one person dead and at least eight injured on Thursday morning.
An officer who admitted to playing a part in a scheme to cheat the Toronto Police Service promotions procedure has been temporarily demoted instead.
A European family who says they were evicted from their long-term Airbnb rental in Toronto last week has sparked a precedent-setting fight.
Occupational Health and Safety is investigating a trench collapse that occurred at a utility repair site in the community of Charleswood on Thursday.
The series is called Bush Wreck Rescue and it's described by the producers as "Western Canadian motorheads obsessed with turning abandoned trucks into custom gems, hunt for old rust buckets, drag them out of the bush and go to great lengths to transform them into vintage classics."
The Town of Magrath in southern Alberta cancelled an alert for a dangerous animal after a cougar was spotted on the Magrath nature trail early Thursday morning.
Quebec's public security minister preached patience on Thursday as fires continued to rage in the province's north, saying it remained unclear when more than 12,000 people displaced by the encroaching flames would be able to return home.
Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, who spent his life in politics, collapsed and suffered a stroke on April 11, and even as he's slowly recovering, the fighter's instinct, that he's known for, is very much alive.
An Ontario man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Claudia Iacono, the daughter-in-law of Mafia associate Moreno Gallo, after she was gunned down at the wheel of her car in Montreal last month.
New Brunswick students under the age of 16 who identify as trans and non-binary won't be able to officially change their names or pronouns in school without parental consent.
The Halifax Regional Municipality says it will announce Thursday when more residents can return to their homes in communities impacted by the Tantallon wildfires.
A company at the centre of a community fight over what residents in the town of Beaurivage, N.B. say is a powerful stench has been ordered to cease operations.
A storm that tore through a community northwest of Brandon Wednesday brought with it heavy winds and, in some areas, hail the size of softballs.
A 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a crash that left two Winnipeg police officers with serious injuries.
A Manitoba school trustee has been suspended over social media posts the division says targeted the LGBTQ2S+ community.
A cyclist has been taken to an out-of-region hospital with what police call “potentially serious injuries” after a crash involving a vehicle in Kitchener.
Firefighters were called to the house on Laurel Street around noon Thursday.
Fire officials have confirmed there were no working smoke alarms at a fatal house fire in Waterloo earlier this week.
Regina's mayor says the city's fire department had growing concerns about the health, safety and well-being of those living in a homeless camp that was dismantled on Wednesday morning.
The uncomfortably hot temperatures some kids are experiencing in classrooms are another sign the province needs to rethink its approach to funding schools, the head of Saskatchewan's teachers' union says.
A common occurrence not only this year but in years past has been flooded underpasses in Regina following heavy rainfall events. Using the video player in the article, you can see vehicles — and sometimes people — stranded by the sudden floods that have plagued the city over the years.
The grief-stricken parents of a young teen killed in his driveway in Barrie in 2021 delivered haunting victim impact statements in court Thursday, recalling the day their "world was destroyed."
A long stretch without rain combined with high temperatures and dry ground conditions has many municipalities across Simcoe County with an extreme fire danger rating and burn ban.
The shifting winds late Thursday morning are predicted to push high levels of air pollution over the City of Barrie and surrounding areas from smoke emanating from wildfires in Quebec and northeastern Ontario.
A man who killed his ex-wife’s cousin will spend life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years, a judge decided on Thursday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.
Long-time city councillor and former Saskatchewan Liberal MLA Glen Penner died on Monday, according to a Saskatoon obituary.
Significant property tax hikes may be needed to cover a funding shortfall, according to City of Saskatoon administration.
A wildfire west of Sudbury, Ont., has quadrupled in size prompting evacuation orders to be expanded and one highway to close.
A fifth person in northern Ontario has been charged in less than a week for having a campfire during the fire ban.
Thousands of Canadians have had to leave their homes in several provinces over the last few weeks due to forest fires. Luckily, there are steps you can take to protect your property, both prior to an evacuation and during.
