It’s hard to imagine, but I’m still struck by the incredible lack of trees in most Canadian major cities.  I say most since I’ve visited most, and recently, Vancouver and Victoria, both really surprise me by their lack of urban greenery.  There are spots, like the UBC campus, which abut parks and have green belts, but otherwise from downtown Vancouver to Langley and its casinos there’s not a lot trees.  It’s bizarre and disappointing.  For example, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax have nothing and Vancouver, which is two and a half hours north of Seattle, which is suffused with trees and parks, has an incongruous forest of condos next to Stanley Park.  In Halifax our urban forest was mostly destroyed a few years back from a hurricane and I haven’t heard if it’s being renewed or redeveloped.  This is hard to understand, particularly for a country whose national symbol is a leaf.  In contrast, New York has committed to plant 1 million trees in the next seven years.   Surely Canada can match this?