Question Period Note: Two Billion Trees – Parliamentary Budget Officer Report

The Government of Canada has committed to planting two billion trees over the next ten years. On January 28, 2021, media reports quote the Parliamentary Budget Officer who says that this commitment will cost $2.78 billion more than planned.

• Nature is part of the solution to climate change. And there is no path to net-zero emissions that does not involve our forests.
• Canada is fortunate to have vast, healthy, and resilient forest ecosystems that support the well-being of Canadians and help absorb carbon pollution.
• Natural Resources Canada is currently finalizing a made-in-Canada solution for planting these trees, with support from Environment and Climate Change Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
• Meeting this commitment will help Canada address climate change by reducing carbon pollution, and is a key part of Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
• An initiative of this scale requires strong partnerships across Canada to succeed.
• Our government has and will continue to actively engage with provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous peoples, industry, and non-government stakeholders to realize this commitment.

• We are committed to using nature-based solutions to fight climate change, including planting two billion trees over the next ten years, to clean our air and water and make our communities greener.
If pressed on reports of the Parliamentary Budget Officer:
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report that insufficient resources have been allocated to the planting of two billion trees over the next ten years did not take into account that the program was designed as a cost-shared initiative involving a variety of partners. Partners are expected to include provinces and territories, Indigenous communities, cities and communities, and private land owners.
• Our government’s intent for cost-sharing has always been a key feature of this initiative. We have and will continue to engage with these partners to realize this historic commitment.
If pressed on initiative funding:
• The Fall Economic Statement committed $3.16 billion towards establishing partnerships to plant two billion trees over 10 years in a sustainable, inclusive manner that supports biodiversity and ensuring the right tree is planted in the right place.
• Existing federal programs support tree planting, with approximately 150 million new seedlings expected to be planted by 2022 through Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund and Infrastructure Canada’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.
• Our government also supports other tree planting initiatives, such as the Highway of Heroes tree campaign, which has planted more than 750,000 of a planned two million trees between Toronto and Trenton, Ontario.
• Early in the pandemic, we committed to providing $30 million to help small and medium sized businesses, including tree-planting companies, to offset additional costs associated with COVID-19 health and safety measures.
• This commitment helped to protect workers and communities and supported the scheduled planting of 600 million trees this season.
If pressed on when and where planting will occur:
• Natural Resources Canada, with support from Environment and Climate Change Canada, is responsible for the development and operationalization of a plan to plant two billion trees.
• On February 19, the program launched an Expression of Interest and a Request for Information.
o The Expression of Interest was launched to identify experienced organizations that have access to both land and a minimum of 5,000 seedlings to plant. The process ended on March 25 and garnered significant interest from a broad range of potential applicants. Natural Resources Canada is currently assessing 120 proposals for potential early tree planting actions in 2021.
o The Request for Information (RFI) was launched to help identify and determine how organizations can implement or contribute to large-scale single or multi-year tree planting projects. The RFI will close on May 27.
• We will continue to engage stakeholders to inform program design, including potential partners involved in the production of seedlings (which take two to three years to grow) as well as those who have the capacity to identify the areas of land and the types of trees to be planted, prepare sites, and monitor trees for survival.
• This initiative will include both urban and rural areas across Canada, and will be delivered over ten years, representing a 40% annual increase in trees planted in Canada.
• By the tenth year, this will have increased forest cover by an area twice the size of Prince Edward Island

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