Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Daimler AG's luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz says it is stepping up its transition to electric cars, doubling the share of sales planned by 2025 and sketching out a market scenario in which new car sales would "in essence" be fully electric by the end of the decade.
The shift to electric vehicles "is picking up speed -- especially in the luxury segment, where Mercedes-Benz belongs," said Ola Kallenius, CEO of Daimler AG and also head of the Mercedes-Benz division. "The tipping point is getting closer and we will be ready as markets switch to electric-only by the end of this decade."
The company plans to invest 40 billion euros (US$47 billion) in battery-driven vehicles between 2022 and 2080. It says it also intends to work with partners on setting up eight factories producing battery cells -- the individual components that are assembled into larger battery packs in different vehicles.
The company said Thursday it foresaw half its sales as battery-only or plug-in hybrid cars by 2025, up from a quarter in previous forecasts. In the first six months of this year, such vehicles were 10.3% percent of total sales. The company sold 39,000 battery cars and 121,500 plug-in hybrids, which combine a battery with internal combustion.
The company's statement updating its electric-vehicle strategy portrayed going all-electric as a "market scenario" the company intended to be ready for, rather than as a fixed deadline for abandoning sales of diesel or gasoline cars. The company said it was "getting ready to go electric by the end of the decade, where market conditions allow."
In Europe, the share of electric cars is increasing, heavily driven by regulation and government incentives. Last year, electrically chargeable cars made up 10.5% percent of the European market.
Mercedes said Thursday that from 2025 all newly launched vehicle architectures would be electric only, referring to mechanical structures that can be shared among different models.
The company has said that its model lineup will be climate neutral by 2039 throughout its chain of production, but had not specified any date for halting sales of internal combustion engines. For now, sales of highly profitable gasoline and diesel sedans and SUVs are providing the cash to invest in the changeover to electric cars.
Other carmakers including Volkswagen's Audi, General Motors and Volvo have also indicated they are moving away from gasoline and diesel engines over the long term.
The new Mercedes electric strategy follows proposals from the European Union's executive commission to tighten limits on carbon dioxide emissions, the primary greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for global warming and climate change. The latest proposal envisions eliminating C02 emissions from cars by 2035. China is also imposing regulations requiring more zero-local emission cars, while the shift to electric cars has moved more slowly in the United States.
"We applaud the high ambition" in the EU climate proposals, chief executive Kallenius said, adding that they would help bring about "a new era of CO2-free living, and we are going to do our part."
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.