Environment committee  I'll echo what was just said. The thought certainly never occurred to me that you were wasting anybody's time. I followed up with a phone call just to make sure it was legitimate, because I thought it was spam at first. After I spoke with Marie-France, I understood the importance

Environment committee  I think you need to look at the activity, whether it's a zip line or mountain biking—probably not a good idea—or whether it involves something motorized, and you need to ask yourself whether that is good for the trees. If it's not good for the trees, I don't think it's a good ide

Environment committee  Right. With your permission, I'd like to think about that. It's a good question and I'd like to give you a more thoughtful response than I can give you at this moment. Could I do that?

Environment committee  I sometimes call this the elephant in the room. We spend very little time talking about private donors—private foundations, private individuals, corporations. They are very enthusiastic about what all of us represent here this afternoon. I call this the miracle of matching funds

Environment committee  Right. I just wanted to make sure I understood the question before I attempted to answer it. I think it's a mistake to pit development against either the preservation or the development of green infrastructure. I believe that we can do both, especially where the intensification

Environment committee  That's one of my favourite questions. Thanks for asking it. I think all of the evidence needed to answer this question exists in a whole new industry that has developed over the last 25 years called horticultural therapy. You can now be certified as a horticultural therapist, a

Environment committee  LEAF is an organization that has spent a lot of time planting trees on private property. That is its mandate. It has determined that one tree equals $161,000 in environmental benefits. It has measured that. I'd be happy to provide the background information on that to anyone on t

Environment committee  First of all, with regard to the education piece, I am really glad that came up. I'm happy about it because I recently read a book about Edmund Zavitz. I'm not sure whether you have heard of him, but Edmund Zavitz was responsible for planting over two billion trees in Ontario.

Environment committee  You represent Etobicoke, so perhaps you would know something about the strategy in Toronto. The strategy in Toronto has been very well articulated. I believe it's called “Every Tree Counts”. It calls for a doubling of the tree canopy by the year 2050. It's not the only city that'

Environment committee  Do you mean beyond helping us plant more trees? I don't simply throw that out, and I don't use the expression "double the tree canopy" lightly. There is a strategy. For instance--

Environment committee  Okay. It's difficult to answer this question without being fairly specific.

Environment committee  My comments were specifically targeted to the emerald ash borer that is attacking all three native ash species in Ontario and Quebec. You need to be aware of it because the chances of it moving west are very good. Whether it will or not, I don't know, but we do know that it's tak

Environment committee  How can the federal government help to double the urban tree canopy in the urban centres across the country? The answer would be to engage with the not-for-profits that are currently committed to this goal, to work with them and partner with the other levels of government that ar

Environment committee  Thank you very much. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. I appreciate very much the opportunity to come and speak to this distinguished committee. I, too, hope that I have something of value to add to your valuable work, your great work. I'm pleased that I'm spe