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Canada to provide up to $30M for COVID-19 safety measures in forest operations

In an announcement by Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Seamus O’Regan, the federal government in partnership with provinces and territories are committing to invest $30 million to help offset the costs of COVID-19 protection for small and medium enterprises in the forest sector, including tree-planting operations.

The funding will be used to help cover costs for sanitizing stations, additional accommodations and/or transportation, facilities and services to maintain social distancing, and personal protective equipment (PPE). In doing so, the federal government hopes to eliminate risks of COVID-19 infections, as well as supporting seasonal forestry jobs such as tree planting and Canada’s ongoing scheduled campaign of planting 600 million trees.

“This announcement is about protecting workers and maintaining important seasonal jobs while getting us closer to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” says Seamus O’Regan.

Canada has committed to plant two billion trees incrementally over the next 10 years in an effort to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.