INVESTIGATION: Developers with ties to Ford government stand to cash in on Hwy 413 nationalobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This story is Part 2 of a series about the Ford government s use of ministerial zoning orders. Read Part 1 here.
In Pickering, Ont., a cluster of marshes and swamps south of Highway 401 has become an unexpected battleground, pitting job creation against environmental preservation.
The wetland of willow trees, silver maples and cattails, once protected from development by provincial rules, is now slated to become a warehouse attached to a nearby casino development.
Since 2018, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has used unappealable special orders to allow a host of powerful developers to build in a number of ecologically sensitive areas, bypassing the usual approval process.
A regulatory framework for electric-powered trucks has begun to emerge, primarily at the state level.
In June, California’s Air Resources Board approved the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, which mandates that 5% of all Classes 7-8 tractors sold be zero-emission vehicles starting in 2024. That percentage increases with each new model year, rising to 40% by 2032. The rule also includes rising zero-emission sales mandates for light-duty commercial vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty straight trucks.
California also is one of 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, that has signed an agreement to work together to advance the electric truck market, with a goal of achieving 100% zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty truck sales by 2050.