2025 - Canada Under Fire

2025 - Canada Under Fire by Maj (ret’d) CORNELIU, CHISU, CD, PMSC FEC, CET, P.Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East As the summer plods along with challenging domestic and international problems, Canadians also face an unprecedented rash of forest fires with many communities affected from coast to coast to coast. It has really been a season and a year of extremes. Currently, Canada is in the grip of its second-worst wildfire season on record, with flames now stretching beyond the West into the Prairie and Atlantic provinces including Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says 7.5 million hectares have already burned in 2025, surpassing the 10-year average and reinforcing warnings that wildfire seasons are growing longer, more destructive and less predictable. Regions such as Alberta have been hit hard, with significant damages reported in popular areas like Jasper. Over the past weeks, raging, out-of-control wildfires have forced tens of thousands from their homes nationwide. In Manitoba alone, the Canadian Red Cross reports that it has helped more than 32,000 people evacuated from about 12,000 households. Recent years have been particularly challenging, with 2023 marking the worst wildfire season on record, where approximately 16 million hectares were scorched. The previous year also saw over five million hectares burned, highlighting a troubling trend in wildfire intensity and frequency across the country. In summary, the wildfire situation in Canada is critical with extensive areas affected, requiring ongoing efforts to manage and contain the fires. Drought is one example of root causes of wildfires. Canada is a big place and it is always dry somewhere, but not like this year. Agriculture Canada's map shows most of the country was abnormally dry. Large stretches of the Prairies were under at least moderate drought conditions, reaching extreme proportions in southern Alberta. In British Columbia, once the "wet coast," 28 of 34 river basins were at the province's top two drought levels. Ranchers were selling cattle that they could not grow enough hay to feed, and low stream flows threatened salmon runs. However, the effect of the prolonged heat was not restricted to the land. Waters off all three Canadian coasts have never been warmer. Hudson Bay is up to 30 C warmer. The Pacific coast is between 20 C and 40 C warmer. Both the Atlantic and Arctic coasts are 50 C above average. Then there were the fires that spread smoke across the continent and into Europe, where "Canadian wildfires" made headlines from the New York Times to Europe's nightly news. All 13 provinces and territories have been affected, often at the same time. Tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes, hundreds of houses were destroyed and firefighters have been killed. If we look at the history of forest and vegetation fires in Canada in general, since the 1970s and 1980s, the total annual number of wildfires in Canada has decreased while the total area burned has increased, though there is variability from year to year. The number and size of large fires has increased since 1959, and the average fire season has become longer by about two weeks. In Canada, wildfire season usually starts in May. The 2023 fires have been compared to the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and the 2021 Lytton wildfire, but the fires this year were second worse. When people revert to blaming the now well-known slogan of “climate change” perpetuated by humans, we might do well to consider that the so-called ‘climate change’ is a natural and cyclic phenomenon depending on many variables, including the path of the earth in space. At the same time we must not ignore the basic issue of forest management. It seems that the political elite and elite scientists do not see the forest for the trees. Lightning causes roughly half of all wildfires in Canada; lightning strikes and lightning-caused fires are happening more frequently. Lightning-caused fires account for about 85% of land burned, often occurring in clusters in remote locations. The other half of wildfires in Canada are human-caused, often unintentionally sparked by discarded cigarette butts, abandoned smouldering campfires, sparks from braking trains and the like. However, let us face it: forest management is also a big factor in the cause/management of wildfires. So here we are; because Canada's forest management has focused on fire suppression, dry vegetation has accumulated on the forest floor. Canada has generally stopped performing controlled burns, which help reduce the risk of larger and more dangerous fires. It is difficult to get permission for controlled burns, especially for Indigenous groups who have historically performed them and are such disproportionately affected by wildfires. Canada lacks a national firefighting service, and local resources are stretched thin due to budget cuts. Pollution due to a global increase in wildfires has created widespread, long-term impacts on human health. Due to wildfire emissions, Canada has broken its record for annual carbon emissions several times. Have any of the so-called climate scientists calculated the contribution of forest fires to the total carbon emissions in Canada? Well ???? Furthermore, is there anyone in government or the public service working on or even considering establishing better forest management practices; a service long neglected by all levels of government in Canada? The answer seems to be a resounding NO. They introduce carbon taxes in various hidden forms, they subsidize fashionable electric vehicle batteries and spend on other politically correct projects, when the recent rash of forest fires in Canada has broken the record on carbon emissions and has made us the laughingstock of the world. It is time to seriously consider and invest in better forest management, rather than continue to spend huge amounts of money overseas and on politically correct pet projects. The forests are burning and people are suffering from coast to coast to coast, while politicians and their advisers in the Canadian public service are fiddling. Enough is enough! Canadians can do without more Neros! What do you think?