The province is putting up millions of dollars to help protect the environment from invasive species.
Grant funding totaling $16-million over the next three years is aimed at helping municipalities, conservation authorities, and Indigenous communities stop invasive species from establishing or spreading across the province.
The funding will be administered by the Invasive Species Centre and Nature Conservancy of Canada to support a comprehensive, Ontario-wide plan to fight the invasive plant Phragmites, and for the Invasive Species Action Fund to provide grants to municipalities, conservation authorities and Indigenous communities to manage other harmful invasive species.
A 2019 study by the Invasive Species Centre estimated that the potential impacts of invasive species to agricultural, fisheries, forestry, health care, tourism and the recreation industry may be as high as $3.6 billion per year in Ontario.