Tag: enforce
New booze ban to enforce fines for drinking at bus stops and war memorials
Why a TikTok ban could be hard to enforce
Canada plans to enforce an ambitious zero-emission vehicle sales quota by 2026
The Canadian government has announced enforceable quotas for zero-emission vehicle sales. By 2026, a fifth of all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the country will need to be zero-emission models, such as electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
“We’re moving forward with a regulated sales target that requires at least 20 percent of new vehicles sold by 2026 to be zero emission, increasing that to 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035,” Julie Dabrusin, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said at a press conference.
It’s estimated that, between 2026 and 2050, the quotas will lead to Canadians saving almost $34 billion CAD in energy costs. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will be equivalent to Ontario’s entire emissions for three years. Currently, passenger vehicle emissions account for around 10 percent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
While Canada already had zero-emission vehicle sales targets, those aren’t yet enforceable nationwide, though some provinces, including Quebec and British Columbia, have their own mandates. The final regulations should be published in 2023. According to the Canadian Press, importers and manufacturers that don’t meet the quotas may be penalized under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The country will use credits to track vehicle sales.
There’s still some way to go until Canada can meet the proposed sales targets. In the first six months of 2022, EVs (including plug-in hybrid models) made up 7.2 percent of new car registrations. That was up from 5.2 percent for all of 2021. In British Columbia, almost 15 percent of new vehicles registered between January and June were EVs. In Quebec and Ontario, the proportions were 11.4 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. In all other provinces, EVs accounted for less than four percent of new vehicle sales.
Infrastructure improvements should help to increase EV adoption, as should incentives. Dabrusin noted that, by 2027, 85,000 federally funded public chargers will be installed across the country. She added that Canada has long offered rebates on new zero-emission vehicle purchases of up to $5,000 for individuals and up to $10,000 for businesses. More than 180,000 Canadians and businesses in the country have benefitted from those incentives, which have been renewed. The government also plans to invest in EV manufacturing.
Several automakers have pledged to switch entirely to making EVs and/or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with GM setting a deadline of 2035 and Honda aiming to fully make the transition by 2040. Some jurisdictions — such as California, New York and the UK — will ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
“The regulated sales targets for zero emission vehicles announced today will reduce emissions by helping more drivers get behind the wheel of an electric car,” Anna Kanduth, a senior research associate at the Canadian Climate Institute, said. “Right now, more than half of Canadians want their next car to be an electric vehicle but they face long wait times, with scarce supply going to provinces like British Columbia and Quebec, where sales mandates are already in place. The federal regulations will help shorten wait times for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids by increasing supply in all provinces and territories.”
Twitter will no longer enforce its COVID-19 misinformation policy
Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy, scrapping it less than a month after Space Karen Elon Musk acquired the company. I’m shocked. This is my shocked face.
“As the global community faces the COVID-19 pandemic together, Twitter is helping people find reliable information, connect with others, and follow what’s happening in real time,” Twitter’s Transparency Center still states. Though that sentence still remains, it is now immediately followed by a new note: “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”
Said policy has also disappeared from Twitter’s Help Center, unceremoniously discarding important safeguards the platform gradually developed over literal years.
Mashable has reached out to Twitter for comment, which is just a formality at this point considering Musk has fired pretty much everyone who might have responded.
COVID-19 misinformation has been a rampant and dangerous problem throughout the pandemic, with many social media platforms struggling to manage it. As such, Twitter attempted to address the issue by making several updates to its policies, including expanding its safety rules to prohibit tweets that may put people at higher risk of transmitting the coronavirus. Such tweets included encouraging fake treatments, spreading misleading content claiming it was from authorities, or denying expert guidance.
Twitter attached warnings labels to tweets which went against public health experts’ advice. It updated its policy to specifically address baseless conspiracy theories that falsely spread a connection between 5G technology and COVID-19. It also began banning users for repeatedly posting COVID-19 misinformation.
Now all of these safety measures are no longer in force, meaning Twitter users ostensibly are free to advise others to cure themselves of COVID-19 by injecting themselves with bleach. (Very important side note: Do not do this.) Musk has also said that Twitter will reinstate all suspended accounts that haven’t broken the law or engaged in egregious spam, meaning Twitter could soon be host to countless more spreaders of COVID-19 misinformation.
The swift destruction of Twitter’s coronavirus safety measures unfortunately isn’t surprising. Musk himself has been known to post tweets flirting with Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, writing that it’s “Maybe worth considering chloroquine for C19” and that “Hydroxychloroquine [is] probably better.” Neither of these drugs are recommended by health experts to treat COVID-19, with studies concluding that they are ineffective.
Even so, Twitter determined that Musk’s tweets somehow weren’t in violation of its policy, allowing Elon “the coronavirus panic is dumb” Musk to continue sharing his galaxy-brained coronavirus thoughts with millions of followers.
Clearly, Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy wasn’t perfect. But with absolutely nothing now in place, the microblogging platform is now in a prime position to sink to previously unexplored depths.
NYC will enforce Uber and Lyft driver pay increases by the end of the year
New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has voted to increase the minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers. Per-minute rates are going up by 7.4 percent and per-mile rates by 24 percent. In practical terms, that means a trip of 7.5 miles that takes 30 minutes will earn a driver at least $27.15 — an increase of more than $2.50 compared with current rates.
The commission also agreed to increase yellow and green cab fares (for the first time since 2012) by 23 percent. The new rates are scheduled to go into effect by the end of the year.
The Uber and Lyft pay bump is in addition to a 5.3 percent increase drivers received earlier this year, the TLC confirmed to Engadget. Drivers sought higher pay amid higher inflation rates and increased operational costs.
Uber and Lyft drivers will receive another rate bump in March. The increase will be “based on inflation comparing December 2022 to September 2022,” the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) said in a statement. The union said this was part one of a drive to ensure drivers receive at least $25 per hour in take-home pay, after expenses. “We’re going to take the momentum of this driver raise which comes despite company opposition and after a long delay, and use it to power our fight for a job with dignified incomes, job security and retirement,” NYTWA executive director Bhairavi Desai said.
“Raising taxi fare rates and minimum pay for high-volume drivers is the right thing to do for our city,” TLC commissioner David Do said. “This is the first taxi fare increase in ten years, and these raises will help offset increased operating expenses and the cost of living for TLC-licensed drivers. We are confident that today’s unanimous commission vote will keep our taxi and [For-Hire Vehicle] fleets sustainable and ready to serve New Yorkers.”