Thank you, Chair.
Minister, I met with the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance a few months ago, and they made mention of the ambitious plan to have two billion trees planted.
I know that falls under Minister Wilkinson's mandate, but we still need nurseries if we're going to try to match that ambitious goal. The alliance told me that this is completely unrealistic, given what Canadian production is at right now. There's no way the nursery sector could produce that many. They said even doing 200 million trees over the next few years would be a stretch. That's just 10%.
I know it's Minister Wilkinson's mandate, but given that it's ultimately farmers in this sector who are going to try to step up to the challenge, I'd like to know what kind of conversations you've been having with Minister Wilkinson about this plan and how your department is working with organizations like the Ornamental Horticulture Alliance and giving them some pathways to try to meet this goal.