OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney's administration will terminate a program aimed at planting two billion trees. This decision is part of a broader government spending review intended to identify significant savings. A senior government official confirmed that the budget to be released on Tuesday will officially end the initiative, which was originally launched by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The official stated that existing contracts related to the program will still be honored. In August, Natural Resources Canada indicated that these contracts would facilitate the planting of nearly one billion trees. The cancellation of the two-billion tree initiative will be highlighted in the upcoming report on the government's comprehensive spending review, initiated by Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne earlier this year. This review requested government departments to identify savings of 15 percent over the next three years.

Carney's commitment to reducing government spending was a key promise during his campaign in the April federal election. His administration aims to allocate billions more toward defense spending and provide support to sectors adversely affected by tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Additionally, the government seeks to encourage increased private sector investment.

The discontinuation of the tree-planting program coincides with Carney's plans to introduce a new "climate competitiveness strategy." He discussed this strategy in a recent speech at the University of Ottawa, emphasizing a focus on "results over objectives."

The initiative to plant two billion trees over a decade represented a commitment of over $3 billion made by Trudeau as part of a nature-based approach within the larger Liberal climate plan. The Opposition Conservatives have long criticized the Liberal government's progress on this commitment. The program was officially launched in 2021 and, by late 2024, had reported the planting of approximately 160 million trees.