![\"Republican](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/JamesJohnMarkHackel-e1687818388951.jpg\")
Republican U.S. Rep. John James, left, Democrat Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel speak at Butzel law firm in Detroit.\nJAMESON COOK — THE MACOMB DAILY<\/p>\n
When much of Michigan was enveloped in thick smoke stemming from uncontrolled wildfires in Canada for a week in July, President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers from Michigan were quick to criticize and threaten retaliatory actions.<\/p>\n
In Macomb County, County Executive Mark Hackel sent a letter of concern and extended the county\u2019s support to Canadian leaders.<\/p>\n
Hackel said his letter was addressed to Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney not to address criticism but to offer any support the county of 886,000 people could come up with.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring times like these, borders become far less important than the shared values of compassion, cooperation and helping one another,\u201d Hackel said in his letter. \u201cAs neighbors, we want you to know that the people of Macomb County stand with the people of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hackel, a Democrat, said his message was not one of political divisiveness but one of sincere caring about his fellow man no matter their nationality.<\/p>\n
Republican U.S. Rep. John James, left, Democrat Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel speak at Butzel law firm in Detroit.
\nJAMESON COOK — THE MACOMB DAILY<\/p>\n
\u201cI get it, I understand how some would want to be critical of the Canadian government for this unhealthy smoke we\u2019ve endured in Michigan,\u201d Hackel told The Macomb Daily earlier this week. \u201cThat criticism may feel good to vent but it would not help solve the problem. We have an obligation to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter went on to say that as Michigan\u2019s third-largest county, Macomb and other metro Detroit communities have shared a close relationship with its Canadian neighbors, especially since the state shares a multi-mile border on Lake St. Clair. The two sides are also connected by \u201clongstanding friendships, commerce and mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, the county executive offered the use of its emergency management office in coordination with local fire and public safety partners to support Canada\u2019s \u201cresponse and recovery efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hackel told the newspaper that the people of Macomb County want to be a good neighbor in a time of crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have mutual aid agreements with any of our police and fire departments that could be available to assist with an incident along our international border,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have made that offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millions of Americans in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states were impacted by the unhealthy air from the wildfires. Numerous outdoor events and activities were cancelled as a result. Communities in Michigan, including Detroit, registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers criticized Canada\u2019s forest management and warned that the U.S. might take unilateral or cross-border actions if conditions persist. Michigan\u2019s delegation of Republicans \u2014 including U.S. Reps. Lisa McClain of Romeo and John James of Shelby Township \u2014 signed a letter demanding immediate action from the Canadian government in response to the repeated wildfire seasons that brought dangerous smoke into Michigan communities.<\/p>\n
President Trump suggested holding Canada financially responsible, floating the idea of adding costs or tariffs on Canada for the cross-border air pollution.<\/p>\n
Hackel said his offer of help was in the interest of being a good neighbor. He said the Canadian prime minister never responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know this smoke situation is not good,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we get paid to come up with solutions to dangerous problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get paid to lend a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When much of Michigan was enveloped in thick smoke stemming from uncontrolled wildfires in Canada for a week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,12958,234,6795,219,48347,2737,116],"class_list":["post-149606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-environment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-macomb-county","tag-michigan","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}