Out on a limb: Ottawa is falling behind on its promise to plant 2 billion trees [Video]

The federal government did not meet the targets for its program to plant two billion trees during the program’s third planting season.

Numbers provided by Natural Resources Canada show Ottawa did not meet its annual planting and spending targets for the 2023-24 growing season.

Ottawa and its partners were supposed to plant 60 million trees last season but only got 46.6 million saplings in the ground.

Despite the program’s slow rollout, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s office insisted it will still reach its 2030-31 target.

“We remain on track to plant two billion trees, a key part of our efforts to combat climate change, support biodiversity and create jobs,” said Cindy Caturao, the minister’s press secretary.

• The federal government promised to plant two billion trees. How’s that going?

Caturao said the program is complex and requires a lot of time to collect seeds, build up nursery operations …