Canada's environment commissioner says the country is nowhere near to meeting its goal of planting two-billion trees by 2030.
The Liberals first made the massive tree-planting promise during the 2019 federal election campaign and followed through with a 10-year 3.2-billion-dollar budget for it in 2020.
However, an audit of the first two years of planting says it appears the government isn't on track to get even four per cent of the promised trees in the ground by the end of 2030.
Vaccine procurement and administration costs were about $3.7 billion. The report said the direct savings associated with averting COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were an estimated $3.3 billion to $5.8 billion.
The Canadian Climate Institute put out the report that makes 11 recommendations for improvements to the federal government's draft $1.6-billion strategy that was released in November.
Premier David Eby says the temporary homes will serve as a "bridge" to health supports and more permanent, stable housing. A statement from the ministry says the units will be in two separate locations near the Science World and Olympic Village SkyTrain stations and are set to open in March 2023.
The homicide team says it's investigating all three cases and the murders of the two men appear to be targeted. Police say they've made an arrest in the woman's case, that the suspect was known to her and it appears to be isolated.
B.C. is faring better after a recent walk-in clinic vaccination blitz, with just over a quarter of kids under five vaccinated against the flu. Of those, B.C. has the highest flu shot uptake at 30 per cent — an improvement from last year.
Members of Parliament agreed to a motion that would see them rising on Wednesday for a holiday break. They are not scheduled to return until the end of January. Trudeau has recently said good government policy doesn’t "fit on a bumper sticker."