Mayoral candidate John Tory says he would double the city's tree-planting budget, investing an extra $7 million per year in a campaign to plant 3.8 million more trees over the next decade.

The proposal separates the right-leaning Tory from incumbent Rob Ford, the small-government populist who says the municipality has no business planting trees at all.

Tory says the city should spend $14 million per year planting new trees by 2019, twice the 2014 budget Ford says is $7 million. In January, Ford tabled a no-hope motion to eliminate the $7 million allocation entirely.

The city plans to plant about 100,000 new trees this year. Tory’s proposal represents a large increase over the 800,000 the city says it planted with its partners between 2004 and 2012.

In addition to hiking government spending for trees, Tory says he would mount an effort to encourage the private sector and non-profits to do more of their own planting.

“As mayor, I will rally the whole city to plant the trees we must plant. A livable Toronto starts with doing the right thing and restoring our beloved urban landscape,” he said in an email via a spokesperson.

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Tory will formally unveil the proposal on Tuesday, Earth Day, at the Evergreen Brick Works.

Toronto has about 10 million trees. Most of them, about 6 million, are on private property. A further 3.5 million are in parks and ravines, 600,000 on streets.

“Any tree-planting scheme would have to address both public and private” land, said Andrew Sorbara, chair of the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation.

The city’s canopy suffered significant damage in the late-2013 ice storm. And it is under siege from the emerald ash borer, which the city says will probably kill all 800,000-plus ash trees.

Tory’s substantial funding boost would not be sufficient to put the city on track to reach its formal goal of 40 per cent canopy coverage by the 2050s. The canopy covered an estimated 27 to 28 per cent of the city when studied in 2012; to hit 40 per cent, more than 550,000 trees would have to be planted per year.

Tory announced last week that he would cancel Eglinton Connects, a not-yet-funded $150 million road reconfiguration and beautification project that would include new trees and bike lanes. Tory opposes the project because it would reduce Eglinton to three traffic lanes through one central stretch.

Ford has scoffed at the value of trees. On the council floor in January, he said, “If you want to go plant trees knock yourself out, but don’t use taxpayers’ money.” In 2011, he pointed to a wooded area as he touted a surprise proposal for development on the waterfront Port Lands: “We have tons of parks,” he said, “but unfortunately, that tree can’t employ anybody.”

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