Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed the possibility that his government could be doing more to contain the out-of-control wildfires ravaging Ontario this week and sending toxic smoke down to flood much of the American Midwest and Northeast, demanding the United States do more to fight alleged “climate change.”
The comments, made during a press conference in Ontario, are Carney’s first in the aftermath of a torrent of outrage in the United States as millions of people were told not to leave their homes on Thursday to avoid becoming sick from inhaling Canadian fire smoke. Disillusion at the inaction by the Canadian government is also reportedly growing among the First Nations communities most directly affected by the fires, including some that have burned to the ground entirely and found little to no support from Ottawa.
Canada’s extensive forests have traditionally experienced regular summer fire seasons, controlled through indigenous methods such as controlled burns and the removal of dry, dead tree branches and other material that serves as kindling for large fires. In the past decade, as the Canadian government has largely abandoned forest management as a national policy, these fires have grown larger, more dangerous, and more polluting. The Canadian government has no federal emergency response agency and no national fire authority, leaving the country’s provinces on their own to respond to the fires.
The Canadian government under the far-left Liberal Party has repeatedly responded to demands to proactively manage its forests and aid both indigenous communities and provincial governments by blaming the fires on “climate change” and rejecting claims that it could be doing more. Carney continued the trend in his response to questions about the fires on Thursday, specifically addressing outrage in the United States about the smoke pollution.
“Now we’re focusing on investing in clean energy,” Carney said in French, “in the United States there’s prohibitions now against clean energy — for example, wind energy is one example.”
“Secondly, Canada is maintaining our efforts on the world’s scale and the U.S. is reducing their efforts globally [on climate change], so, yes, climate change is the responsibility of everyone… including the United States.”
Carney’s comments did not elaborate on how the use of wind energy — requiring massive turbines that pose their own maritime environmental threat — would address the Canadian wildfire situation. He also did not specify exactly what he would want the American government to do to address the “responsibility” of alleged “climate change.”
Ontario is experiencing a surge in out-of-control fires that worsened dramatically in the past week. Authorities documented 136 active wildfires in the province as of Wednesday evening, including many destroying entire communities in remote areas largely populated by indigenous communities. Leaders of those communities have lamented the lack of support from their government to evacuate residents, offer temporary housing, and otherwise care for them. Speaking to the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, Helen Paavola, the chief of the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, lamented, “We lost everything.” The entire Namaygoosisagagun community burned down on Monday, the newspaper noted, and the chief lamented that the government did little to aid with evacuation, leaving residents to use small boats to paddle away from the flames.
Paavola reportedly told the newspaper that “her request for evacuation assistance to the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources went unheeded before flames overtook the settlement.”
Paavola was not the only official lamenting the lack of support. Speaking to the Toronto Star, lawmaker Lise Vaugeois of the leftist New Democrat party expressed frustration.
“Basically I got blown off by the Ministry of Emergency Preparedness, saying somebody in each municipality is in charge and go talk to them,” Vaugeois said.
In the United States, Congresspeople from affected states have increasingly condemned Ottawa for inaction, reportedly planning legislative measures to respond to the pollution of their communities. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) announced on Thursday, sharing horrific photos of the smoke in his state, that he would be drafting legislation to sanction Canada, calling the situation an “atrocity.”
A group of Michigan Republican lawmakers — Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI), John James (R-MI), Lisa McClain (R-MI), and John Moolenaar (R-MI) — published a letter to Carney on Wednesday demanding concrete action and condemning the Canadian government for ignoring pleas from American officials to properly address forest management.
“We were told last year that this would be treated with urgency. It was not,” they wrote. “We were told the causes, chronic under-investment in forest thinning, fuel reduction, and prescribed burns, along with inadequate enforcement against arson, were being addressed. They were not, or not adequately enough to matter to the people we represent.”
“What funded, measurable steps has your government taken since last summer to reduce fuel loads and wildfire risk in the provinces responsible for the smoke reaching the American Midwest?” they asked. “What accountability exists for provincial leaders who treat this as someone else’s problem? And what will genuinely be different by this time next year, rather than another season of statements followed by the same result?”
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