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Politics

    • Major biodiversity conference opens in Montreal amid hope of hard conservation target

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    MONTREAL -

    A major international conference on preserving the world's biodiversity is to open Tuesday with speakers including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

    COP15 in Montreal brings together 196 countries to refresh the Convention on Biological Diversity and is seen as a crucial attempt to reach a global deal on saving the world's ecosystems and the plants and animals that depend on them.

    Mary MacDonald of the World Wildlife Fund Canada said COP15 could provide for biodiversity what the Paris Agreement created for climate change: hard targets for preserving nature.

    "What we're looking for is something like an acknowledgment by all countries in the world that we need to have a nature-positive 2030," MacDonald said. "That means there's more healthy nature on this planet by 2030 than there is now."

    Diplomats have hammered out 22 targets for the negotiations, which include halting the spread of invasive species and reducing the use of pesticides and plastics.

    But the main objective will be to agree on a minimum amount of how much of the world's ecosystems should be protected and conserved.

    Scientists suggest preserving 30 per cent of the globe's remaining lands and oceans is vital to stop increasing threats of extinction and achieving international targets for reducing greenhouse gases. They say biodiversity and climate change are closely linked.

    A 2019 paper in the journal Science concluded: "If current trends in habitat conversion and emissions do not peak by 2030, then it will become impossible to remain below 1.5 (degrees Celsius)."

    Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says Canada has four main goals for the final agreement: meeting the 30 per cent threshold, reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, providing money to developing nations to allow them to meet those targets and ensuring Indigenous people are fully involved.

    Guilbeault acknowledges meeting those goals won't be easy. He said the last draft of the convention he saw contained 1,200 places where the final text hasn't been agreed on.

    The event will create a small city within Montreal for the next two weeks, with 17,000 registered attendees and 900 reporters accredited to cover their deliberations.

    The COP15 conference lasts until Dec. 19.

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2022.

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    Canada

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    • Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

    • Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

    • Two people emerged unhurt after a float plane had a hard landing late Friday morning on Lake Temiskaming.

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    World

    Politics

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

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    Business

    Lifestyle

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    Autos

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    • Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

    Local Spotlight

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    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

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    • Members of the only organized support group for the Vancouver Canucks are feeling slighted after losing their usual space at Rogers Arena.

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    • The Ford government is considering restricting Ontario municipalities from installing new bike lanes that would require the removal of lanes of traffic, a source confirms to CTV News Toronto.

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    • Defence counsel for accused murderer John-Christopher Arrizza argues he was in an “altered state of mind†due to days of drug and alcohol use, sleep deprivation and not eating, when he fatally stabbed a man at a Banff nightclub in 2022.

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    • Calgary pickleball players will soon have a dozen new courts to play on.

    • WATCH LIVE

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      Agreement in principle has been reached to build a new NHL arena at LeBreton Flats has been reached between the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC), the two sides announced Friday.

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    • The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

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    • A man who asserted his right to work in French has won his case before the Tribunal, invoking the new provisions of the province's French-language law (Bill 96) to that effect.

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    • Edmonton police say a man who was died in the river valley last weekend was fatally shot.

    • DEVELOPING

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    • A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes 'indescribable' pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.

    • The families of some students who will be using Nova Scotia’s school lunch program can now order their meals online.

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    • A tornado in Langbank, Sask. on Wednesday was the third latest in the province on record, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

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    • Guelph resident, Susan Bard, is being remembered as a vibrant community advocate and volunteer who died doing what she loved – cycling.

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    • A 69-year-old woman from Outlook, Saskatchewan is dead and three people are injured after a truck and SUV collided on Highway 15 on Thursday.

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    • Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

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    • The Elgin Community Health Hub, operated by the Thames Valley Family Health Team, is accepting new patients to a model where doctors are rarely seen.

    • Members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and supportetrs greatly outnumbered the people attending a '1 Million March 4 Children' event along Central Avenue.

    • Today, the 71 year old is marking 50 years a paramedic. He said he never aspired to move into management or a desk job, he enjoys being on the road, helping patients too much.

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    • A truck driver from Orillia is proof that saying yes to Encore can pay off in a big way.

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    • On Thursday, just after 9:30 a.m., a man was found and taken to police headquarters, where he was released with conditions and a future court date.

    • The Municipality of Lakeshore is honouring long-serving members of the Lakeshore Fire Department.

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    • Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.

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    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

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    • A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.

    • A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.

    • Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.

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    • Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.

    N.L.

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