A major UN conference on biodiversity will get underway in Montreal Tuesday with a lofty goal to get every country to agree to protect almost one-third of the world's land and oceans before the end of this decade.
But the environment may be the easy part of a meeting that is being co-hosted by Canada and China amid growing diplomatic tensions between the two -- and without the political heft of world leaders, who weren't invited to attend.
To say diplomatic relations between Canada and China are strained is akin to suggesting the Pacific Ocean is just a wee body of water. Saint-Jacques said China should be grateful that "Canada came to its rescue" when the country couldn't host the biodiversity summit. But he said China has a tendency to push Canada around.
No other world leaders are expected. China only invited environment ministers, a move some nature groups say is designed to underplay the importance of the meeting.
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