Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. If it is going to be a construction zone with heavy equipment all around it, then that compacts the soil. That makes it very difficult. Often trees are lost to exactly just that, the “oops” moments that occur as a result of construction work too close to a mature tree. At a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. I simply told them that we were thinking of cutting down the tree to make way for a visitors' centre.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, of course. When this measure is taken and the displaced trees have been replaced, there will be a beautiful green space. That's for sure. As for the elm, there was sufficient doubt about its condition that it wasn't necessary to simply say that it was very sick. We don't kn

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. The Ulmus americana is the genus for that tree, so it's the North American version of the elm.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  North of us starts being boreal forest, and so it would not be found in that area. We're near the northern edge of its range.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, that's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. Allow me to make a comment. In the city of Aylmer, just outside Ottawa, there is an American elm tree like the one on the Hill. This elm tree must be at least 200 years old. The tree on the Hill has a diameter of 84 centimetres, and the diameter of the elm in Aylmer must be

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In 1979, the National Capital Commission, or NCC, took action to combat Dutch elm disease. It decided to protect the 2,000 elm trees on its lands, and probably the one on the Hill. There was a fumigation program, then an inoculation program for these 2,000 elms. We don't know ho

Procedure and House Affairs committee  They were located throughout the National Capital Region.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, because the NCC still has land on this side of the National Capital Region.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We don't think it's the only one to have survived, but are there 20 or 200 remaining? We don't know.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Several elms have succumbed to this disease, but they have been replaced by hybrid elms, which means that they have been crossed with species that have a capacity to resist this inherited disease. The elm tree we are talking about today is a native elm, so it has not been crossed

Procedure and House Affairs committee  …able to withstand the disease.