Through all the confusion, controversy and consultations, one giant green hope stood out in Canada’s fight against climate change: We’ll always have the trees. Two billion carbon-absorbing trees to be planted by 2030 was the eye-catching Trudeau government promise from four years ago. It made so much more sense than everything else. …But according to the environment commissioner’s report released on Thursday, that green dream has foundered on this government’s go-slow-if-at-all approach to doing everything coupled with bureaucratic inertia and an intergovernmental lack of timely co-operation. …But most of the slowdown seems to be inside a bureaucracy that is conducting excessive consultations on the project, including a gender analysis study, before putting shovels in the ground. That’s creating a missed opportunity to lead Canadians and inspire individuals to participate in a project that would deliver substantial carbon reduction in the long term.