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Officials with P.E.I.’s Environment Department say they don’t expect any “immediate change” to be made to the province’s 2 Billion Trees program after funding cuts were announced in the federal budget.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced a planting initiative during the 2019 election campaign and earmarked $3.2 billion over 10 years for the program. It aims to support tree planting projects across the country, including here in Prince Edward Island.
Earlier this week, Ottawa announced it would be scaling back a number of projects under the Liberal government’s new budget. That includes cuts to the 2 Billion Trees program.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last month that the budget would include a “climate competitiveness strategy.” But this is another key Trudeau-era climate policy that Carney has dropped since becoming leader, after ending the consumer carbon tax and pushing back an electric vehicle sales mandate.
In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson with P.E.I.’s Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action said the province signed an agreement under the 2 Billion Trees program with the federal government until March 2031. It goes on to say that Ottawa “is honouring signed agreements” and the province is “not expecting any immediate change for P.E.I.”
Officials said the federal government will move forward with contracts that have already been signed to plant one billion trees.
P.E.I.’s program aims to plant 300,000 trees per year
The national program, meant to bring Canada closer to net zero by 2050, had planned to plant two billion trees by 2031. On P.E.I., there are four programs that will plant 300,000 additional trees per year — that’s on top of the 1 million trees that the province was already planting annually through other programs.
The provincial program began in 2022 with support from the federal government, which is picking up half of the $3.3-million cost over three years. A second phase of the program is expected to take it into 2031.
WATCH | Why P.E.I. is offering to plant free trees on properties across the province:
Why P.E.I. is offering to plant free trees on properties across the province
Interested in getting up to 50 trees planted on your property? Google “P.E.I. 2 Billion Trees Planting Program” to find out if you qualify. It’s designed to replace damaged trees and increase the canopy on the Island as efforts continue to address damage from post-tropical storm Fiona specifically, and climate change in general.
According the P.E.I.’s Environment Department, the provincial program aims to help landowners plant native tree species in areas like agricultural land that are currently unforested, and to replant forested sites that were damaged by post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022.
Any Islander who owns agricultural and private land or small parcels of land near streams and rivers is eligible to apply to have trees planted on their property. The work will be carried out by contractors or watershed associations.
Following a summer of very hot, dry conditions, the province decided to delay all tree planting efforts this fall, which will impact P.E.I.’s planting goals for the year. Officials with the province said 350,000 trees will now be planted in the spring when conditions improve and the trees have a better chance of survival.
Countrywide, over 228 million trees have been planted so far, according to Natural Resources Canada’s latest update — leaving more than 1.7 billion in order to reach the target by 2030-31.