Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago, the scout troops of Saint‑Jérôme, Saint‑Hippolyte, Prévost and Piedmont, led by Prévost resident Loyola Leroux, began a project whose scope can be truly appreciated only through the lens of time.
In the spring of 1991, they went out and planted 25,000 trees. The next year, they planted 45,000 trees. In 1993, they planted 96,000, and so on and so forth. By 2016, they had planted a total of 2.3 million trees.
The members of Parliament, the mayors and other dignitaries of these cities never missed an opportunity to get their hands dirty in our fertile soil. Two-time Oscar winner and internationally renowned Quebec artist and director Frédérick Back, or the man who planted trees, was among those who came out every year to cheer on these young tree planters.
I think it is important to highlight this anniversary by reminding the government that we are still awaiting the hundreds of millions of trees we were promised by the Prime Minister. If he is wondering how to go about it, I would be happy to introduce him to Loyola Leroux.
I would like to thank these men and women who planted trees.