Montreal announces $18M to fight emerald ash borer

The City of Montreal is devoting$18 million to fight the spread of the emerald ash borer and to plant new trees.

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"We're winning the war," saidRalMnard,the city's executive committee member in charge of sustainable development.

It's not the first time that Montreal has taken measures to the fight thebeetle that infests ash trees and eats them from the inside.

The city has providedover $15 million over a three-year period to combat the infestation and plant new trees to replace the infested trees it had to cut down.

Opposition Projet Montral says the city is downplaying the size of the problem.

"Ral Mnard believes the situation is under control, but the data shows the complete opposite," Projet Montral city councillorSylvain Ouellet said.

"The ash borer has spread all aroundMontreal," Ouelletadded. "We need to cut all the ash trees that are not in [such]good shape in a 300-metre radius so it's really huge."