Thank you for your question.
There are two ways to answer your question.
First, the federal government lacks leadership. It projects an image more than anything else.
It would be good for the Canadian Forest Service's website to have a section that reflects the realities of urban forests. There's currently nothing on that subject there.
Second, many researchers conduct forest research for the federal government. We think they need to focus more on urban forests. Many municipalities will be looking to the United States and Europe for solutions to Canada's problems. That's unfortunate because we have qualified people to answer questions, solve problems and address urban forest issues. We're not using that knowledge as we should.
As I said in my presentation, we are the only G8 country that doesn't have a deputy minister responsible for urban forests. More than 80% of Canadians now live in cities. Consequently, this is a national issue; it's not one that should be studied only by the municipalities.