A decision to cut a tree-planting in the federal budget was met with disappointment by seedling producers.
The Canadian Tree Nursery Association represents more than 95 per cent of Canada’s forest restoration seedling producers.
The federal government decided to cut short the Two Billion Trees (2BT) Program, saving an estimated $200 million over four years.
CTNA executive director Rob Keen said the decision would threaten the long-term environmental recovery of Canada’s forests and jeopardize the forest restoration sector.
“I think the whole program was just starting to get some good momentum,” Keen said.
The program was a commitment made by then-prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2019 to plant two billion trees by 2031.
Keen said it would be in addition to normal tree planting activities, including anything done by the forestry industry as part of a legal requirement to replace forest it harvests.
“At the time, the focus was to create new forests,” he said.
Keen said about 600 million trees are planted each year by the forestry industry.
“So, really there was a very significant increase in overall tree planting in Canada,” he said. “And then, I guess in the budget … the government decided, ‘OK, we’re done.’ ”
A CTNA press release said eight per cent of the country’s forests were destroyed by wildfires between 2023 and 2025.
Keen said 17 million hectares were destroyed in 2023 alone, with another five million in 2024 and nine million in 2025.
“The 10-year average prior to 2023 was about 2.4 million hectares per year,” he said. “There’s an unbelievable increase in the overall amount of forest that’s being destroyed.”
Keen said indications are wildfires will continue to destroy forests across the country.
“I think it’s incumbent upon government to take care of that asset and look after it and make sure that we’re not on this slippery slope of just seeing our forests destroyed and without doing anything to restore those forests,” he said.
“This is not the time to start pulling back on forest restoration activities. This is the time to start enhancing them.”
