Elizabeth May announced on Friday a plan to plant 10 billion trees in Canada over 30 years to fight climate change.
At the news conference in Sidney, the federal Green Party leader would see that 30,000 hectares of trees are planted each year until 2050 if elected.
She referenced the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in the B.C. Interior, saying they were so severe as to prevent any natural forest regeneration, as well as how dead trees, killed by pine beetles, remain wildfire fuel.
“We recognize that forest management is a provincial jurisdiction, but in the context of unmanaged forests – in urban areas and in burnt-over areas and those at risk of burning – the federal powers of peace, order and good government must be invoked,” she said.
Her plan also includes wildfire risk-mapping, buying more water bombers, and further investing in the Canadian Forest Service.
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May’s other climate promises include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The Canadian Press
