Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) called for Canada to “take meaningful action to prevent” catastrophic wildfires that have broken out, leading to millions of Americans throughout the United States dealing with toxic wildfire smoke.
In a post on X, Langworthy expressed that American citizens “should not be forced to breathe hazardous air year after year,” noting that “this is no longer a one-time emergency.”
“Canada must take meaningful action to prevent these catastrophic wildfires and protect both Canadians and Americans,” Langworthy wrote. “If it refuses to do so, there should be consequences. Our citizens should not be forced to suffer because another nation’s government failed to do its job.”
In his post, Langworthy shared that he was “reaching out to Members of Parliament and the Canadian Ambassador to demand answers about the devastating impact Canada’s forest management failures are having on Western New York, the Southern Tier, and communities” throughout the U.S.
“Millions of Americans are paying the price for policies they had no role in creating,” Langworthy added.
Several Congressional Republicans in Michigan issued a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in which they called upon the Canadian government “to improve forest management after years of negligence.”
Breitbart News’s Frances Martel reported that “Canada does not have a national emergency management organization, leaving provinces to fend for themselves”:
Air quality in much of North America during the summer has deteriorated significantly in the past decade as increasingly large and uncontrolled forest fires consume much of Canada, sending the fumes wafting south to the United States. Canada does not have a national emergency management organization, leaving provinces to fend for themselves and use the federal government for coordination more than established resources. Internal criticism of the government’s response to fires has persisted for years from environmentalists, emergency professionals, and First Nations leadership who observe that indigenous groups traditionally set controlled fires and cleared dry undergrowth to diminish the threat of massive fires.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Detroit, Michigan was 435, which is described as being “hazardous,” while the AQI in Chicago, Illinois, was at 330, which is also hazardous, according to IQAir.
The AQI for Washington, D.C. was reported to be 242, which is described as being “very unhealthy,” as people in the area posted photos of the smoke in the D.C. area.
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