Christmas trees in full stock and companies are ready for customers
With Christmas around the corner, businesses selling natural trees are preparing for a big crush of customers in the days to come.
Mike Kisiloski is with Country Pines Tree Farm in Tyndall, Man. and grows acres of trees. He is preparing for an avalanche of customers and will likely need just a few days to sell out.
"The lineup goes from here to the highway," said Kisiloski.
It wasn't always that way though. When Kisiloski first opened back in 1992, he didn't have customers growing on trees.
"The tree's got bigger and bigger and bigger and before you know it, I had to cut down them down as firewood," he said, but he noted there was more competition back then.
"There used to be 14 tree farms in the area, and now there's only about four."
Ray Dubois, the president of Ron Paul Garden Centre, found out how tight the Christmas tree supply chain can be in 2019 when his supplier suddenly couldn't send him trees anymore.
"I was on the phone for about 10 to 14 days and I contacted every single farm in Canada and upper U.S. I even went down so far as like North Carolina, South Carolina," said Dubois.
There were none available in Manitoba, either. Luckily, he was able to find a supplier in Quebec and says he won't have any problem serving his customers this year.
Still, he only has so many trees.
"You can't just, you know, turn up the tree making machine. It's just doesn't happen."
Kilioski knows that first hand. He says it can take a full decade to grow a large Christmas tree and it's a lot of work year round.
He and Dubois say now is a perfect time to get a good, healthy tree and that it will make it until January.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6977053.1721909931!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Sick to my stomach': People grieve Jasper National Park by sharing favourite photos
As an out-of-control wildfire roared through Alberta’s famed Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday, many are fearing the worst as officials warned of 'significant loss' within the area.
DEVELOPING Jasper wildfire burns buildings, while poor air quality forces some fire crews out
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
Canadian women's soccer team staffer given suspended prison sentence over drone incident, prosecutor says
A Canada women's soccer team staffer has been given an eight-month suspended prison sentence after flying a drone to film the closed-door training session of the New Zealand team on Monday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Sale of envoy's NYC condo 'expected to exceed' $9M: government
The current official residence for Canada's representative in New York City is 'being readied for sale,' according to a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada.
'I'm so broke': Two Toronto women speak out after losing $76,000 in romance scam
Two women from the Toronto area are speaking out after losing thousands of dollars to a romance scam, including a single mother who lost $62,000.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Loblaw to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500 million to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: COVID-19
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.