Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
European Union institutions and conservationists on Friday gave a conditional and guarded welcome to a major plan to better protect nature and fight climate change in the 27-nation bloc.
The plan is a key part of the EU's vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world's most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. Yet it has had an extremely rough ride through the EU's complicated approval process and only a watered-down version will now proceed to final votes.
Late Thursday's breakthrough agreement between Parliament and EU member states should have normally been the end of the approval process. But given the controversy the plan had previously stirred, the final votes -- normally a rubberstamp process -- could still throw up some hurdles.
The plan has lost some of its progressive edge during negotiations over the summer because of fierce opposition in the EU's legislature, particularly from the Christian Democrat EPP, the largest of the political groups.
"The final text on this law has little to do with the original proposal," said EPP legislator Christine Schneider. The EPP opposition also highlighted the core struggle in Europe over how to deal with climate issues. Despite the succession of droughts, floods and heat waves that have swept through many areas in Europe, the EPP wants to hit the pause button on environmental action and concentrate on economic competitiveness first over the next five years.
Under the plan, member states would have to meet restoration targets for specific habitats and species, with the aim of covering at least 20 per cent of the region's land and sea areas by 2030. But the negotiations were plagued by quarrels over exemptions and flexibility clauses allowing member states to skirt the rules.
"Negotiators have hollowed out the law to the point that it risks being toothless in practice and prone to abuse," said Ioannis Agapakis, a lawyer at the ClientEarth conservation group. He said the weakening of provisions "have set a very frightening precedent for EU law-making, rather than cementing the EU at the forefront of biodiversity conservation."
But the EPP, other conservatives and the far right have insisted the plans would undermine food security, fuel inflation and hurt farmers.
The EU's main agricultural group, COPA-COGECA, said that despite the concessions in the new plan, "the overall final compromise reverts to a totally unrealistic proposal for farmers and forest-owners."
The group said that with the plan as it stands, "no MEP can now say that the text proposed for ratification will not have major impacts on our production, our competitiveness, the EU trade balance, or the consumption price for millions of Europeans."
The EPP's Schneider still did not give the plan the wholehearted support of her group for the last votes in Parliament, leaving the final adoption of the EU plan in doubt.
"The EPP Group will now seriously check the outcome of today's negotiations," Schneider said, "keeping in mind that nature restoration and achieving our climate goals go hand-in-hand with agriculture and forestry. Only then we can secure Europe's food security."
------
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP's climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
The three people killed in last weekend's tragic collision between a speedboat and a fishing boat north of Kingston are being remembered Friday.
Exhausted and short on options after consulting two veterinary clinics, Kristie Pereira made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.
A gunman who is accused of killing a young Ontario man and shooting four of his family members at their small Mississauga restaurant in 2021 was allegedly part of a trio who had pledged allegiance to the listed terrorist group Islamic State, a Crown attorney said in an opening statement in the Brampton murder trial this week.
A sexually transmitted infection (STI) that was once thought to be a thing of the past is now a public health priority for North American doctors.
A pair of Purolator transport truck drivers from Guelph, Ont. are being hailed as heroes for their efforts in helping a person in crisis.
Stopping short of offering the assurance U.S. senators are seeking, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is aware there's more work to do in order to see Canada meet NATO's defence spending target.
A toddler has died after being struck by a recycling truck in a Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
As avian flu spreads south of the border, Canadian officials are now testing samples of milk sold in grocery stores across the country.
When one is extended an invitation to the Royal Garden Party in London, England, there's undoubtedly no shortage of pomp and circumstance. Barrie, Ont. natives Megan Kirk Chang and her husband Brandon experienced just that as they entered the prestigious event hosted at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
An unlikely celebrity emerged from social media to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers as they face the Dallas Stars tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.