The Legault government wants to be able to cut down the trees that will be planted in Quebec as part of the “2 billion trees” program dear to Justin Trudeau, but it faces a refusal from Ottawa.
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“There is a broad consensus from the sector, forestry communities and industries that revolve around the forest to the effect that the federal program should be more flexible,” says the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette. Vézina, in interview with the QMI Agency.
She has also just sent the federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, a letter co-signed by 81 stakeholders mainly from the forestry industry and 67 municipalities, to plead her cause.
Currently, Ottawa refuses to provide funding to the provinces under this program without the guarantee that the trees planted will never be taken by the forestry industry.
- Listen to the interview with Maïté Blanchette Vézina, Minister of Natural Resources and Forests with Mario Dumont on QUB:
Relaxations
However, these conditions deprive forest communities of “significant economic potential”, especially after the major fires which ravaged the Quebec forest last year, argues the minister.
Photo provided by the office of the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests
Mme Blanchette Vézina therefore asks her federal counterpart “to review the provision requiring that planted trees cannot be harvested in the long term and transformed into construction materials”, and that reforested trees “be added to the forestry possibilities of the regions most affected by forest fires”, namely Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Nord-du-Québec, Mauricie, Côte-Nord and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
In November, the Chief Forester recommended a significant reduction in logging possibilities in Quebec, precisely because of the forest fires. For its part, the Forest Industry Council (CIFQ) estimates the impact of the fires at $13.5 billion.
Provincial jurisdiction
The CEO of the CIFQ, Jean-François Samray, also supports the Legault government’s approach. “It takes extra money,” he sums up simply in an interview.
“There is federal money that is already available to the provinces,” he adds. Ottawa cannot ignore the extraordinary situation and interfere in provincial jurisdiction!”
During the preparatory phase of the program, the Legault government signed a $49.8 million agreement for reforestation, half of which was covered by the federal government. So far, Quebec’s efforts represent 40% of the trees planted in the country as part of this program.