Homeowners would be given government help to deal with trees infested by the mountain pine beetle as part of a $250-million Liberal plan to curb the beetle's spread, former cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh said on Sunday.
Saying that the Conservative government has "raided" pine beetle funds and redirected the money to unrelated infrastructure projects, Dosanjh promised that every penny would fight the effects of the beetle.
"This is important work that should have been done and needs to be done," Dosanjh told reporters.
The mountain pine beetle has devastated nearly half of B.C.'s marketable pine forest -- an area more than four times the size of Vancouver Island.
The infestation has been another hit to the province's beleaguered forestry industry, and swaths of trees have turned from green to a rusty red.
While scientists say its expansion through B.C. is slowing because it is running out of new trees to infest, the beetle is now pushing east past the Rocky Mountains and into Alberta.
The new money would be spent over four years and would be part of a forestry strategy, said Dosanjh.
Homeowners who needed to remove infested trees would be given federal help, he said. Businesses already receive tax cuts to remove trees.
The government would help First Nations communities create fire protection plans and buffer zones to lower the risk of forest fire from the dry tinder, he said.
And the Liberals would hold a national forestry summit on behalf of a sector they say has been ravaged by a softwood lumber deal forged by the governing Conservatives.
"Canada's forestry industry is facing tremendous challenges," Dosanjh said.
