Canada’s environmental watchdog says Ottawa is using “creative accounting” to support the claim that its program to plant two billion trees is exceeding targets.
Commissioner of Environmental and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco told CBC News that Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) is using trees planted under a different program — and a different department — to boost its numbers.
“It’s creative accounting,” DeMarco told CBC. “It’s certainly within their prerogative to do that.
“But to achieve the benefits for climate, biodiversity and human health, adding trees is needed. Not simply finding trees and other programs that have already been planted and saying, ‘Oh, this now counts, we’ve got a higher number than anyone expected.'”
In August, Natural Resources Canada revised interim numbers on its progress toward the target of planting two billion trees by 2030-31.
By 2022, NRCAN was supposed to have planted 90 million trees. NRCAN says that, to date, it has planted approximately 110 million trees.
The department initially said it had planted 29 million trees in 2021. It now says it planted 83 million trees that year.
The French language website and newspaper Le Devoir first wrote about the change to the way the government reports the number of trees planted.
In a statement, NRCAN said it revised its 2021 figure by adding millions of trees planted through partner programs like Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF).
“Data from the LCEF program … was received and validated against the two billion tree program’s objectives this summer,” said Keean Nembhard, press secretary for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
A two-year-old Grand Fir sapling stands about 20 centimetres tall among Douglas-Fir and Western Red Cedar trees at Francis/King Regional Park in Saanich, B.C., Thursday, May 26, 2016 (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
In 2022, the department said it had planted 28 million trees through its partners, missing its interim target for that year of 60 million.
Conservative MP Greg McLean, who sits on the House of Commons environment committee, said the Liberals are being disingenuous with their math.
“Let’s admit to Canadians what this is. This program was a bit of a virtue-signal in the first place,” McLean told CBC.
Wilkinson said in an interview with CBC’s Power and Politics that when the government announced its two billion trees initiative, it confirmed it would rely on other programs.
“I mean, at the end of the day, I am not sure Canadians care if some of the trees come from Low Carbon Economy or some come from other programs,” Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said that what Canadians care about is the government achieving the aims behind its program— enhancing biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson: ‘I am not sure Canadians care if some of the trees come from … other programs.’ (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
But the environmental advocacy organization Nature Canada said that if the government is counting existing trees that were already planted, it cannot claim its two billion tree program is offering any additional value.
“This, to me, is very disappointing,” said Nature Canada’s reforestation policy and campaign manager David Wallis. “It seems to indicate NRCAN is backing away from its commitment to plant 2 billion additional trees.
“They seem to realize they are not going to hit their target. Instead of coming clean to Canadians and fixing their program, they are choosing to deceive and make it look like they are planting more than they actually are.”
Ottawa is investing up to $3.2 billion over 10 years (2021-2031) in its tree-planting program.
The government of Canada is planting only some of those trees. Ottawa relies on Indigenous communities, provinces, territories, businesses and non-profit organizations to do most of the planting.
The federal government provides half of the money required to plant trees through cost-sharing agreements.
The federal government has said it hopes provinces and territories will plant the lion’s share of the trees — 1.35 billion.
As of March, it had signed agreements with five of 10 provinces and two of three territories to meet the target.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
