The Honourable Donna Cansfield

In August 2007, the Ontario Government introduced a program to fund the planting of 50 million trees across the province by 2020, as part of its commitment to help fight climate change and green the province. This is Ontario's commitment to the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign, whose goal is to plant 1 billion trees worldwide each year. The Honourable Donna Cansfield, Minister of Natural Resources and her ministry are leading this program with tree planting delivery agent, Trees Ontario.

The goal of the 50 Million Tree Program is to sequester carbon; enhance and diversify southern Ontario's landscape; increase adaptive capacity to withstand climate change; moderate local climate by providing shade, moderating temperature extremes and reducing the effects of storms; increase wildlife habitat; increase soil and water conservation, and provide local economic opportunities.