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.
British Columbia's website says eligibility will expand to those 18 and older as of January and Ontario hinted earlier this week that larger segments of the population could soon be included in its booster rollout.
It's too early to say whether Canada's latest requirement to test arriving air travellers for COVID-19 will be extended to include those coming from the United States, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Wednesday. The federal government is in discussions with the provinces on that issue but is ready to act to implement such a requirement for incoming U.S. air travellers if necessary, he said.
Several young Canadians are taking the federal government to court in an effort to strike down the minimum voting age. They argue that denying citizens under the age of 18 the right to vote in federal elections is unconstitutional.
Mary Ng met virtually Tuesday with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to talk about a number of festering trade irritants, including Canada's "significant concern" with a proposed tax credit for electric vehicles.
A government bill seeking to ban conversion therapy has cleared the House of Commons and is on its way to the Senate. Erin O'Toole had been set to once again allow his caucus to have a free vote on the bill, but also pledged that his MPs would work to get it passed quickly.
Amita Kuttner, the new interim Green leader, says they will be ready to take tough disciplinary action to deal with party members who "have been at each other's throats." The astrophysicist, who is nonbinary, says they want to "listen and love" to "heal" the party, which has been riven by infighting and accusations of racism and antisemitism.