Trudeau's '2 Billion' Tree Promise is a Lie

Remember the federal government's promise to plant two billion trees by 2030? It's planted less than half of a per cent of that number. As of November, only 8.5 million trees had been planted , which is just 0.4 per cent of what the Liberals have repeatedly promised.

The Prime Minister made the promise back in the 2019 election, and was reiterated during the 2020 throne speech. He stated it would help in creating roughly 4,300 new jobs.

The Ministry of Natural Resources asserts the program isn’t falling behind. “There will be about 30 million trees planted by the end of this year. Tree planting as part of this program will continue to ramp up,” said Joanna Sivasankaran of Natural Resources Canada.

The Green Party attacked the findings. MP Mike Morrice said the disclosure that only 8.5 million trees have so far been planted was “incredibly disappointing” but “not a complete surprise.”

“We’ve seen a pattern from this government of making grandiose promises around elections, but not following through, this being the most recent example,” Morrice said.

“Planting trees is one of the cheapest forms of climate action, while regenerating forests can also reduce erosion.”

The government claims there will be a big tree-planting push by the end of the month, while following years will see 250 to 350 million trees planted annually.

Data shows that 7.6 million of the 8.5 million trees planted since the prime minister made his pledge were in British Columbia; 89,000 extra trees have been planted in ONtario, with 60,400 in Saskatchewan, 238,000 in Alberta, almost 350,000 in Quebec and 235,000 in New Brunswick.