Smoke billows from a small wildfire burning in a neighbourhood near the Kelowna International Airport in B.C.Aaron Hemens/The Globe and Mail
The United States is complaining about another Canadian export: wildfire smoke ruining the summer in their neck of the woods.
Six Republican members of the U.S. Congress have penned a public letter to Canada’s ambassador in Washington, demanding that their northern neighbour do better at mitigating wildfires, which have led to thousands of evacuations in this country and sent thick smoke billowing across the border over the past couple of months.
“We write to you today on behalf of our constituents who have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air,” reads the letter signed by House representatives Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, Michelle Fischbach and Tom Emmer of Minnesota, along with Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin.
“While we know a key driver of this issue has been a lack of active forest management, we’ve also seen things like arson as another way multiple large wildfires have ignited in Canada.”
Tensions between Canada and the U.S. have ratcheted this year, with President Donald Trump launching a global trade war. On top of that, the conversation surrounding wildfires and climate change has become increasingly politicized in both countries.
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Mr. Trump, in January, blamed wildfires in California on a “worthless fish,” smelt, protection for which he claimed was the reason the state lacked water to manage its wildlands. He suggested the state needs more “raking” in forests. In Canada, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has faulted the federal government for last year’s wildfire that destroyed parts of Jasper.
In a short statement to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, Canada’s embassy in the U.S. defended the government’s response to wildfires.
“Canada takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously,” wrote embassy spokesperson Tarryn Elliott, declining to provide any further details.
“We can confirm that the letter has been received and has been shared with the relevant Canadian agencies. We will respond in due course.”
In their letter, Congress members questioned Ambassador Kirsten Hillman about what they described as inaction on wildfires. Midwestern states, they said, are particularly struggling to enjoy their summer because of hazardous fumes from Canada.
“Our constituents have been limited in their ability to go outside,” the Wisconsin and Minnesota representatives wrote. “Summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories, but this wildfire smoke makes it difficult.”
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The Congress members declined interview requests from The Globe, and would not answer questions by e-mail or phone related to the letter.
“Our two nations regularly exchange resources and personnel,” Marie Martin, spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, said in a statement. “Wildfire is a global problem.”
Several regions in Canada have experienced an early and aggressive start to the wildfire season this year. Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared simultaneous provincewide states of emergency, as dozens of large fires also spread in northwestern Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
More than 40,000 people were ordered to evacuate from their communities because of significant wildfires this year. Although the vast majority have now returned home, thousands of people in Canada remain displaced.
As of late Wednesday, at least 515 wildfires were active across the country, with more than 150 of those deemed out of control.
The Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario governments declined to comment on the letter.
In an interview, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told The Globe that the Congress members are being highly insensitive by trivializing serious issues.
“We’ve lost two Manitobans this wildfire season, and we got a couple of ambulance-chasing congresspeople trying to virtue signal and get attention with their base over this issue,” he said. “This is what turns people off politics.”
Mr. Kinew said the Wisconsin and Minnesota representatives’ comments are not helpful during trade negotiations, urging the members to speak directly with the many American firefighters on the front lines of Canada’s wildfire response.
“We love our American friends,” he said Wednesday. “But this is just childish people.”
Ravi Parmer, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, pointed out that the province also often receives smoke from fires in the U.S.
“Managing wildfire on both sides of the border is a shared responsibility,” he said in a statement. “We are proud to send crews to support our neighbours to the south whenever you need help.”
Smoke from a wildfire burning in Squamish, B.C., on June 10.The Canadian Press
Smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted not only to parts of the U.S., but also as far as Europe. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued air-quality warnings for several areas, such as Minnesota, New York and Florida, while Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service noted that the smoke has travelled east to reach Greece.
In a seasonal outlook last month, researchers from Environment and Climate Change Canada said dryness, little precipitation and warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected to ripen conditions for more wildfires later this summer.
The scientists, joining officials from Health Canada, warned about fire seasons becoming longer, as they now start earlier and end later than previous years.
Robert Gray, a B.C.-based ecologist who has spent more than 40 years managing wildland fires in the U.S., Canada and other jurisdictions, said it was notable that Congress members did not acknowledge the effects of climate change in their letter.
“They’re definitely right about some of their complaints. The disparity between Canada and the U.S.’s response to wildfires is very real,” he said in an interview Wednesday, adding that American officials are more premeditated with their planning.
For example, Mr. Gray explained, Canada does not nearly adhere to as many prescribed burns as the U.S. does. The practice, often called cultural or traditional burning by Indigenous communities, involves controlled fires to clear out low-lying branches and dead shrubs, preventing fuel for wildfires.
“But not mentioning climate change and going out of their way to talk about arson fits in well with the Congress members’ politics,” he said.