Canada nowhere near target of planting 2B trees by 2030
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Apr, 2023 10:15 AM
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.
The deal says NDP MPs will side with the Liberals on key votes until 2025 — meaning they won’t bring down the government over the coming budget, for example, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.
UCP president Cynthia Moore, in a public statement, says the change was due to the unexpected crush of people signing up to vote in Red Deer to decide whether Kenney should stay on as party leader.
Speaking to European parliamentarians this afternoon, the prime minister says those economic uncertainties have percolated for years, but are now stoked by rising global inflation.
The Liberals have promised in their new confidence and supply agreement with the NDP that they will pass a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of next year.
Public Services and Procurement Canada assistant deputy minister Simon Page said Tuesday the process is “very active, very live” as he was grilled by a parliamentary committee over the lack of a decision.
The money was announced in Budget 2022, and much of the funding, $7.47 million, is an increase to the budget for Legal Aid BC to support lawyers delivering legal help in the province.