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.
Hundreds of demonstrators blockaded roads in Ottawa for more than three weeks last month, and similar demonstrations blocked four major border crossings in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says $18.4 million will cover much of the costs of debris removal, archeological work and soil remediation for municipal, uninsured and underinsured properties in Lytton.
Alberta has responded by reducing its tax by 13-cents per litre on both gasoline and diesel. Farnworth says there's no simple solution to the rising fuel price situation as the cost rose above $2 a litre in Metro Vancouver.
Dying With Dignity says the service is being restricted because of an agreement that allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds.
The magnitude and planning of this event takes a full year to complete and given the tight turnaround between the constantly changing public health order restrictions being lifted and the scheduled date of the parade, organizers did not feel they could responsibly honour the importance and magnitude of the event in this timeline.
The Canadian government is allowing Ukrainians who have fled Russian aggression to come to Canada temporarily for a period of two years "for those who need a safe haven while the war ravages their homeland," Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced last week.