The federal Minister of Natural Resources is removing 200 million trees from the federal program’s planting target of 2 billion trees, he said Wednesday. The environment commissioner is toying with the idea of making it the subject of a new audit.
The Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said Wednesday that it is ultimately “probably 90 [pourcents]or something like that”, of the objective of the two billion trees which will actually be planted by his ministry.
This puts the number of trees that must be financed by the program called “2 billion trees” at approximately 1.8 billion. This constitutes “almost every two billion trees,” defends the minister, to whom Justin Trudeau added Energy to his portfolio this summer.
However, Ottawa launched this program in 2020 with the explicit promise that it would “plant two billion trees over 10 years thanks to an investment of $3.16 billion”.
The government now says the balance must be funded by other federal programs, such as funds prior to the 2 Billion Trees program, managed by other departments. He thus believes that his promise is intact, since all these trees will see the light of day.
The calculation of the number of trees planted was changed in the middle of the third planting season, reported The duty in August. The government suddenly made 54 million trees appear on the scoreboard, even though they had been planted two years earlier by the Low Carbon Economy Fund. These trees represent 49% of the first two planting seasons.
The concerned commissioner
Canada’s environmental commissioner calls the decision to include all these millions of trees planted by other branches of government “concerning.” The agent of Parliament responsible for monitoring Ottawa’s environmental actions could conduct additional audits.
“We will consider the option of carrying out a follow-up or a new audit on this program after analyzing the information received,” writes Vincent Frigon, spokesperson for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, of which the environment commissioner is responsible. part.
A first audit conducted in the spring of 2023 concluded that it was impossible for the federal government to reach its modest planting targets for the first years of the program, which must plant two billion trees by 2031.
“At no time during our audit or our multiple interactions with the ministry was there any mention of the fact that trees planted under other programs, such as the Low Carbon Economy Fund, would be counted,” assures Mr. Frigon in an email to Duty.
The inclusion of data from other funds and programs could thus alter the objectives of the 2 billion trees program, such as its ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Quebec government has still not signed an agreement with Ottawa to participate in due form in the two billion trees program. However, trees planted on its territory in 2021 as part of the Low Carbon Economy Fund are among the latest results of the Trudeau government.