Ottawa’s Promise to Plant 2 Billion Trees Without Provinces’ Help Not ‘Realistic’: Environment Commissioner

Jerry DeMarco, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development holds a press conference in Ottawa on April 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said on June 13 that the Liberal government needs to implement more “realistic” initiatives, saying the 2019 promise of planting two billion trees can not be done without the provinces’ participation.

“They need to concentrate much more on results,” DeMarco testified at the House of Commons natural resources committee. “This is a theme of a lot of our reports: They have to be realistic with their programs.”

In its 2019 election platform, the Liberal Party promised to plant two billion trees in Canada within a decade.

“Nature isn’t just part of our identity as Canadians. It’s part of the solution to climate change. And it’s a solution we can start using today,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said of the project in a related release.

As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, DeMarco said the department of natural resources was far from meeting the target, finding that the number of trees planted so far is “unlikely to succeed unless significant changes are made.”

DeMarco said the program fell “well short” of its 2022 goal of planting 60 million trees.

According to a February 15, 2023, Inquiry of Ministry, a total of 28.9 million trees were planted as of 2022. The program was originally budgeted at $3.16 billion over 10 years but is now expected to cost $5.94 billion, according to Budget Office estimates.

‘A Key Partner’

DeMarco said delays in signing agreements with planting partners have significantly challenged the department’s abilities to root the trees, and delays will affect subsequent years that have “much more ambitious goals.”

DeMarco also testified that tree nurseries don’t want to make those investments in seedlings “unless they know there is going to be demand for them.” He said the federal government is unable to create that demand on its own, as most Crown land in Canada is provincially controlled.

“That’s a key partner, is those agreements with the provinces,” he said.

Kimberly Leach, an auditor who examined the tree program, said the federal government would not be able to plant two billion trees unless they received help from the provinces, which is “the group that is going to plant the most trees.” The natural resources committee heard that cabinet has not yet signed tree-planting contracts with all provinces.

“Almost 70 percent of the trees that are to be planted through this program will be by provinces and territories,” Leach said. “In 2022, they decided they wanted an agreement in principle with provinces before they started to have project proposals accepted. That was really the significant challenge that happened.”