'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Australia's new government is putting climate change at the top of its legislative agenda when Parliament sits next month for the first time since the May 21 election, with bills to enshrine a cut in greenhouse gas emissions and make electric cars cheaper, a minister said on Wednesday.
A bill will be introduced to commit Australia to reducing its emissions by 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 when Parliament sits on July 26, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen told the National Press Club.
Another bill would abolish import tariffs and taxes for electric vehicles that are cheaper than the luxury car threshold of 77,565 Australian dollars (US$53,580).
Only 1.5 per cent of cars sold in Australia are electric or plug-in hybrid, and passenger cars account for almost 10 per cent of the nation's emissions, the government said.
The new centre-left Labor Party government expects EVs will account for 89 per cent of Australian new car sales by 2030.
The government's fleet will be converted to 75 per cent no-emission vehicles, bolstering a second-hand EV market as government vehicles are sold after three years.
The new government has already officially informed the United Nations of Australia's more ambitious 2030 target than the previous conservative Liberal Party-led administration had pursued, a reduction of 26 per cent to 28 per cent.
But Bowen said legislating the 43 per cent target would create greater confidence.
"It's about certainty and stability, mainly for the business investment community," Bowen said.
"It sends a signal if a parliament hasn't legislated that maybe the country's not serious. Maybe a future government, heaven forbid a Liberal government, might walk it back," Bowen added.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has ruled out his Liberal Party senators getting the Labor target through the upper chamber. Labor holds only 26 seats in the 76-seat Senate so needs outside help to pass its legislative agenda.
If Labor got all 12 senators from the minor Greens party to support the target, the government would only need to persuade one of six remaining independent or unaligned legislators to reach a majority.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has said he will push the government to ban new coal mines and gas projects when that target legislation is negotiated. The Greens want Australian emissions reduced by 75 per cent by 2030.
Australia's greenhouse gas emissions rose last year by 0.8 per cent, or 4.1 million metric tons.
Bowen described the increase as one of the biggest emissions spikes in 15 years and blamed the previous government's inaction during nine years in office.
Factors that caused the increase included a 4 per cent rise in transport emissions as pandemic travel restrictions eased and 4.2 per cent more agricultural emissions as rain ended years of drought across large swathes of southeast Australia.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.