The federal government has committed to planting two billion trees across the country to restore natural habitats and fight climate change. Quebec now wants to reap part of it.
The Legault government is asking Ottawa to allow Quebec’s forestry industry to cut down trees in the regions of the province hardest hit by last year’s forest fires.
Ottawa has committed more than $3 billion to help provinces, territories and organizations plant a total of two billion trees by the end of 2031 as part of a national effort to reduce greenhouse gases .
However, the federal government’s plan does not fund trees intended for commercial use.
Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Forests Maïté Blanchette Vézina says the record 2023 fire season has had significant economic impacts in rural regions that rely on the forestry industry.
She sent a letter Thursday to her federal counterpart, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, asking Ottawa to authorize the harvesting of trees and their use in the production of green building materials.
Mme Blanchette Vézina points out that the fires have destroyed 1.1 million hectares of forest in the habitable zone in Quebec.
His letter is co-signed by more than 100 Quebec municipalities as well as associations and unions in the forestry industry.