Canada's forests provide a wide range of economic, social and environmental benefits for our country, including as an important source of employment for communities from coast to coast. A thriving forest sector is key to Canada's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and will create benefits for future generations.
Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honorable Seamus O'Regan, [on July 10] announced the federal government's intent to provide up to $30 million to offset additional costs associated with COVID-19 safety measures for small and medium enterprises in the forest sector, including tree-planting operations. Faced with the challenges of both maintaining the manufacturing of essential products and ensuring seedlings are planted on schedule amid COVID-19, federal, provincial and territorial governments, together with industry, worked collaboratively to quickly put in place measures to protect workers and communities. The government intends to work with the provinces and territories to deliver this funding, which will preserve jobs for forest sector workers, including approximately 7,000 tree planters this year.
More specifically, this investment will help cover extra costs for things like sanitizing stations, additional accommodations and/or transportation, facilities and services to maintain social distancing, and personal protective equipment. In addition, funding announced [July 10] will help support the scheduled planting of 600 million trees.
A successful 2020 tree planting season and a resilient forest sector will help the government deliver on its commitment to plant two billion trees incrementally over the next ten years, a key part of Canada's efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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