Ontario Premier Doug Ford has taken an axe to a program that aimed to have 50 million carbon-gobbling trees planted by 2025.
And that has left nurseries with millions of trees without a buyer.
The largest is Ferguson Tree Nursery near Kemptville and it has laid off some staff and said it will stop tending about three million trees which will die.
About 40 per cent of Ferguson’s revenue came from the annual $4.7-million provincial program.
Besides capturing carbon, tree planting stabilizes stream banks and reduces flooding which has been a major problem in Ontario this year.
Farmers are leaders in planting trees to improve the environment, in many cases with encouragement and advice from conservation authorities whose budgets have also been reduced.
