Staff in Premier Dalton McGuinty's office in Queen's Park received an unexpected “gift” Aug. 11 courtesy of a northwestern Ontario tree nursery owner.
Joy Neill of Jellien Nurseries in Armstrong, north of Thunder Bay, shipped 45,000 spruce and pine seedlings to the Ontario Legislature to protest the lack of commitment by the government toward forest renewal.
“I want the people of Ontario to know that the forests are not sustainable, they haven't been for 10 years,” said Neill, owner of a 12-greenhouse operation near the town of Armstrong, 242 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
A spokesman in Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield's office said the 50 boxes of seedlings were transferred to cold storage at the ministry's district office in Aurora.
Neill is upset that the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) refused to plant 160,000 seedlings left over from a 1.5 million order placed by the government for the Crown-owned Armstrong Forest, one of 47 forest management units in Ontario.
About 1.3 million seedlings were planted in the Spruce River Forest, south of Armstrong, but the remaining plants were dumped back on her.
Neill was paid for her work, however she thinks it's a colossal waste not to plant them in the Armstrong forest.
Armstrong is 242 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
She claims sources have told her the MNR's Forest Renewal Trust Fund for the Armstrong Forest holds $1.4 million but the Thunder Bay district office refuses to release the money to plant them.
Neill said her frequent calls to Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield to overturn the district office's decision went nowhere.
“There's money sitting in the trust fund and there's trees sitting out here and nobody wants to plant them,” said Neill. “Meanwhile there's still people here that need jobs and work and I'm throwing 160,000 trees in the dump.”
MNR District Manager Bill Baker in Thunder Bay was not available for comment.
Neill contends the struggling forestry companies are not regularly paying into the trust funds in management units where they harvest fibre and the province has no idea how much money is owed.
She wants answers on where the money went for last year's $19.3 million government top-up of forest renewal trusts.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle said the whole issue of Forest Renewal Trusts, land tenure reform and pricing are complex issues that he is committed to addressing.
Gravelle, whose riding includes Armstrong, was recently given control of the province's forestry file from the Ministry of Natural Resources, as part of his new pumped-up Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry.
Gravelle said there needs to be “very serious discussions” about the Forest Renewal Trusts, tenure reform and pricing in the province.
In his first month as forestry minister, Gravelle said many industry stakeholders have frequently brought up these matters and “very serious discussions” must get underway soon. He expects to provide specifics shortly in moving forward “as quickly as possible.
My goal is to have an announcement in relation to that process in the very near future.” It will tie directly in Neill's concerns as well, he said. “This is something we take seriously.”
While still getting up to speed on the forestry portfolio, Gravelle couldn't say if forest trust funds across the province are operating at a minimum balance.
“There's no doubt this is one of the files we intend to get directly involved in.”
He couldn't speak to the issues on the Armstrong Forest, but said the ministry has many dedicated employees who care a great deal about the forest trusts, tree planting and harvesting in Ontario.
With the forestry experiencing challenging times, finding solutions will not be easy.
Gravelle would not commit to an economic stimulus package on tree regeneration programs but said forestry and mining remain vital economic drivers to the region's economy and “that's why the premier asked us to take on forestry as part of our ministry.”
