Marit Stiles and Doug Ford speak on the forest fires in northern Ontario as hundreds of people are displaced and hazerdous air quality effects the province. (Courtesy: @maritstiles , @onforestfires , @fordnationdougford/Instagram)
Ontario is going through its second day of smokey, hazy skies and Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles called out Premier Doug Ford for ignoring the province’s climate commitments and allowing the wildland firefighting force to diminish over the years.
The province has been experiencing dangerous air quality from the northwest Ontario wildfires, with hundreds of people being displaced in shelters and hotel rooms in the Thunder Bay area.
On Wednesday night at around 8 p.m. there were reportedly 136 active wildfires in the northwest region.
In a video yesterday, Stiles spoke out on the wildfires, emphasizing the importance of ensuring safety and clean air, calling out Ford’s dismissive actions towards this issue.
She points out that firefighters had repeatedly urged Ford to address the issue, but their warnings were ignored.
“This is the result of choices. Doug Ford chose to ignore Ontario’s climate commitments. He chose to let Ontario’s wildland firefighting force shrink year after year, while his own firefighters begged him to fix it. And when he was asked about climate change and these fires, he blamed campers,” Stiles said in the video.
Ford also made a statement yesterday regarding the northern Ontario forest fires, thanking fire crews and emergency responders.
“Right now, the provincial government has 156 fire crews and nearly 50 water bombers and helicopters hard at work across the impacted areas. With more resources being deployed where needed, our government will not spare a penny to keep people safe,” said Ford.
He also spoke on the provincial government’s efforts to increase firefighting resources.
“Last year, we added 100 new firefighting personnel, and this year we’ve added nearly 70 more. We’ve nearly doubled base funding for forest firefighting since 2018, and we’re investing another 650 million dollars to add six new water bombers and five helicopters to the provincial firefighting fleet,” he said.
Evacuation orders were issued earlier this week for communities in Armstrong, Whitesand First Nation and Collins First Nation.
According to Environment Canada an orange air quality alert is still in effect today in Toronto with conditions possibly improving by Friday morning.
