B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday that a fifth National's party minister will join his Cabinet as part of deal to cement the junior coalition partner's support for a national target of zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
The National party's in-principle support for the target, which was decided on Sunday, is a breakthrough for Morrison, who wants to take a more ambitious plan to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions when he leaves on Thursday for a UN summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Nationals lawmakers would not discuss the conditions the party had placed on its support. Morrison's Cabinet was considering the conditions.
Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who is also deputy prime minister, declined to say whether the party had demanded that Resources Minister Keith Pitt be made the fifth Nationals' Cabinet minister.
Morrison later said Pitt, who maintains Australia will continue mining coal for decades, will join his Cabinet.
"Minister Pitt is a powerful voice for the resources sector and ensuring that we build upon Australia's strength in traditional exports, while harnessing opportunities in the new energy economy and critical minerals," Morrison said in a statement.
Joyce also declined to confirm or deny that he had told his colleagues he opposed net zero.
"We never would have had to go into the negotiation process if the Nationals were 100% happy with where the proposition was," Joyce said.
Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud said further details of the agreement would be made public by early Tuesday.
"We worked through this calmly and rationally as a party," Littleproud said, adding that the Nationals' amendments to the Cabinet proposal would protect jobs in rural Australia.
Reducing emissions is a politically fraught issue in Australia, which is one of the world's largest exporters of coal and liquified natural gas. The nation is also one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita because of its heavy reliance on coal-fired power.
The rural-based Nationals have traditionally represented farmers' interests, but are increasingly now seen as advocates for fossil fuel industries.
Nationals Sen. Matt Canavan, who represents coal-rich Queensland state, said the deal was bad for the country.
"Net zero is going to end in tears," Canavan said.
"I don't think this is the right approach for this country. It's a fantasy to think we can remove all carbon emissions," Canavan added.
Australia has not budged from its 2015 pledge at a Paris climate summit to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030, despite many countries adopting far more ambitious targets.
The Glasgow summit, known as COP26, will assess progress since nations agreed in the Paris accord to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The meeting in Glasgow is widely seen as the last chance to hold global warming to 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial levels.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
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.
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.