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.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says that's possible in part because 90 per cent of residents aged 12 and over have received two doses of vaccine, though more people need to get a booster shot for longer-lasting protection.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Trudeau says the "freedom convoy" is no longer a protest against the federal vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers and has morphed into a forum for a small minority of "very angry" people opposed to all public health measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, some of whom espouse violence.
The BC Prosecution Service announced in April it was not in the public interest to pursue criminal contempt charges against protesters, but a B.C. Supreme Court ruling last month found CN could continue its own legal action.
The High Commission of India in Ottawa and RCMP released the identities of the four who died. They were Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, a 39-year-old man; Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel, a 37-year-old woman; and their children Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel, an 11-year-old girl; and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel, a three-year-old boy.
While vaccines have played a major role in protecting homes from the same deadly toll the first wave of COVID-19 took on residents, the impact has still been profound during the Omicron wave.
Kingston police announced on Twitter that the last vehicles in the convoy had departed the city around 9:30 a.m. Friday, putting its likely arrival in the capital at around noon.