Focus on Canadian immigration and Canadian law: In Surrey, a city in Western Canada where the reporter resides—known as the "city with the highest ratio of parkland in the world"—a developer named Paul Bal made a mistake. He was originally authorized to develop residential properties on a plot at 5904 144th Street, but he ordered workers to cut down 53 trees. However, only 30 of these trees were permitted for removal by the city government. As a result, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts stated: "This highly irresponsible behavior cannot be accepted in Surrey." She recommended that the Surrey Planning Department fine Bal "10,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 55,000 RMB) per tree."
In Canada, the authority to determine whether trees can be cut down lies with the lowest of the three levels of government: the municipal government. Many cities have enacted specific "Tree Bylaws" that provide detailed regulations on which trees can be cut and how, and people do not dare to neglect any single tree. For example, in the city of Toronto, any tree with a diameter exceeding 30 centimeters, a height over 1.4 meters, or a circumference over 94.2 centimeters requires an application for a tree removal permit from the city government. Cutting down a tree without applying for or receiving approval is considered a criminal offense. This "any tree" policy includes those in public spaces as well as those in the front or backyards of private residences. Therefore, even trees in one's own yard cannot be cut down at will.
In some Canadian cities, tree removal must be performed by agencies designated by the municipal government. Regardless of the circumstances, cutting down a tree is quite "costly"; spending hundreds or even thousands of Canadian dollars to legally remove a tree from a backyard is common. In some cities, if a tree or its branches in a backyard extend into a neighbor's property, the removal must be approved by the neighbor, otherwise, it is illegal. In individual cities, neighbors can even exercise their "right of intervention" to oppose the removal of a tree on grounds such as "the tree's shadow falls in my yard" or "the tree's roots might be under my yard," and they are often supported. In such cases, the cost of removing a tree becomes even higher.
Of course, most cities have "special exemption cases" for tree removal. For instance, in Toronto, if an arborist can provide certification confirming that a tree is completely dead, or that it poses an immediate danger to people or building safety if not removed, or that the tree is infected with a disease that could endanger other plants or human health, it can be cut down immediately without waiting for a permit. The above describes the norm; in fact, some Canadian cities have much stricter relevant rules: some individual cities even stipulate that any tree, regardless of height or whether it is dead or alive, requires municipal government approval before it can be cut down.
