The Liberal government is dropping its goal to plant two billion trees by 2031 as part of Tuesday’s budget, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The government currently has contracts that they intend to fulfil to plant one billion trees, one source said.
The news was first reported by the Globe and Mail.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last month that the budget will 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 the electric-vehicle sales mandate.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the planting initiative during the 2019 election campaign and later earmarked $3.2 billion over 10 years for the program. Funding that has not yet been committed will be redirected elsewhere, one source said.
In a twist on a pre-budget tradition, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne put the finishing touches himself on his new shoes for this week’s federal budget. Champagne said the Carney government’s first budget, to be tabled Tuesday, ‘will allow everyone to go farther.’
Trudeau was initially presented with a plan to plant one billion trees, but he pushed to double the goal.
The government has struggled to keep up with the commitment, missing its annual planting targets in the past two years.
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.
Carney has signalled that the government is looking to make some cuts in government spending and has committed to balancing the budget for day-to-day spending within three years.
One source said the government’s expenditure review is focusing on ironing out program delivery, recalibrating programs and modernizing operations.
Despite some expected cuts, Carney has also said the deficit for Tuesday’s budget will be higher than in the last fiscal update.
“I will always be straight about the challenges that we have to face and the choices we must make. And to be clear, we won’t transform our economy easily or in a few months — it will take some sacrifices and it will take some time,” Carney said last month during an address regarding the budget.
In the same remarks, the prime minister said that his government is preparing to “build a stronger economy” against the backdrop of “a more dynamic, a more competitive, a more hostile world.”
The budget will include changes to the tax structure that one source said will promote competition and growth. Those changes will include adjustments to the tax credit that allows businesses to write off capital expenses.
CBC News is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the contents of the budget.
