National Forest Week
Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): Madam Speaker, I have a brief statement for the House, and I have copies.
Madam Speaker, during the month of May, Manitobans and Canadians celebrate National Forest Week. Officially this year it was the week of May 4 to 10. As you see before you today, we have representative seedlings that are being presented to the MLAs in the House.
We have been celebrating National Forest Week for the past two weeks, frankly, and in this province National Forest Week is a program run by the Forestry Association, and they have provided the white spruce seedlings that are in the House today.
I am sure that all my colleagues in the Legislature will agree that we look forward to receiving a white spruce seedling each year. In fact, I know of some of the colleagues who have been here for a while who now have a nice row of spruce seedlings, some of them that are getting to be of a substantial size.
Forests, Madam Speaker, are to all Manitobans a very special symbol. National Forest Week is a special time for us to celebrate our forests, and I would like to congratulate the Manitoba Forestry Association for its annual effort to remind us of the value of this resource.
Madam Speaker, there are two youth ambassadors who are part of the Youth Ambassador Program of the Tree Canada Foundation called Let's Root for Canada Program.
Our youth ambassadors are part of a 24-member team, aged 16 to 19, that will be participating in community tree planting events across Canada from May 28 to July 3. Eric Couture was selected by the Manitoba Forestry Association to represent Manitoba to other parts of Canada. Alexis Knispel will host youth ambassadors from other parts of Canada when they visit our province on June 10. Tomorrow at 1:30, Manitoba's youth ambassadors will be part of a planting ceremony to recognize 25 years of tree planting by the Scouts of Canada, Scout Trees for Canada Initiative will be recognized.
The Minister of Urban Affairs (Mr. Reimer) will take part in this planting which will occur adjacent to the Louis Riel statue to the south side of the buildings. This will initiate our commemoration of the 125th anniversary of Arbor Day, a day to commemorate all the importance of all of our varieties of trees.
I rise today for an opportunity for all of us to show our support to the efforts made in this direction.
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Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity as well today to rise and congratulate those in our province who are in any way, shape or form connected with the treeing of our province. I want to assure the minister that, although this is only the third time that I have been a recipient of one of these white spruces, each of them has been planted in my backyard, and I look forward to a whole row of white spruce trees to be planted in my backyard over the years to come. I want to also assure the Minister of Natural Resources that I will not turn them into my own private little wood lot, as maybe others might be thinking.
I want to join in congratulating the Manitoba Forestry Association for bringing to our attention on an ongoing basis the importance of our forestry industry here in Manitoba. I congratulate them on their idea of spreading the seedlings to people to be planted and to be grown from there. I, too, want to join with the minister in congratulating Eric and Alexis both on being chosen as youth ambassadors, and I wish them well in their endeavour in showing people from outside of our area the good things in Manitoba that can happen in the area of forestry, and I thank them for that job that they are doing on behalf of Manitobans.
I also, too, want to join in congratulating the Scouts of Canada with their program, Trees for Canada. I think that is a very worthwhile job that they are doing, not only in getting valuable trees planted that we know are so important for our ecosystem to be healthy but also to raise the awareness of the importance of trees and the forestry industry in our province.
So, Madam Speaker, with those words, I thank the minister for my seedling of white spruce and thank him for bringing this to the attention of the House.