Canada is burning again. From British Columbia’s mountains to the boreal forests of northern Quebec, wildfires have become the new summer ritual. Every year the smoke grows thicker, the evacuations longer, the headlines more apocalyptic, and every year, Ottawa finds new ways to turn fire into politics. What was once the straightforward work of forestry management — cutting firebreaks, doing controlled burns, investing in equipment and training — is now a theatre for climate virtue-signalling..McTEAGUE: ’Net-Zero' Carney's going to build new pipelines? I'll believe it when I see it!.The evidence is everywhere. Consider that prescribed burns — a centuries-old practice that reduces the “fuel load” of deadwood and brush — are woefully underused in Canada. The BC Wildfire Service itself admits it does only a fraction of what is needed to protect communities. Alberta has increased efforts since the catastrophic 2016 Fort McMurray fire, but even there, forestry experts say it’s not enough. Meanwhile, Ottawa spends billions on glossy climate campaigns and international pledges while the fundamentals of firefighting go underfunded..Emergency Management Minister Harjit Sajjan recently admitted that Canada leans too heavily on the armed forces to put out fires. Soldiers, brave as they are, are not trained firefighters. They are a stopgap. The fact Ottawa relies on them shows how badly the system is broken.The core problem is not complicated. We have more trees and brush than people. Without regular clearing and burning, forests become tinderboxes. Indigenous communities practised controlled burns for centuries, precisely to prevent the kind of megafires we now see every summer. But these lessons are too often ignored in favour of glossier “net-zero” rhetoric..Minister says Canada too dependent on military for wildfire response.Instead of fixing policy, politicians prefer storylines. When fires rage, the Liberal cabinet rushes to microphones to declare it proof of climate change. Never mind that lightning strikes, arson, or simple mismanagement are often to blame. The details are brushed aside because they spoil the narrative.The media, of course, follows suit. Every plume of smoke is presented as an omen of global warming. Every evacuation becomes another reason to hand Ottawa more power. A natural disaster is transformed into a political weapon..But Canadians are not fooled. They remember when firefighting was treated as serious work, not as a backdrop for cabinet press conferences. They remember when provinces, territories and towns managed forests with pragmatism, not ideology. And they know that more bureaucracy, more taxes and more international photo-ops will not put out a single fire.What will help? Real investment in firebreaks, water bombers and training. Respecting the knowledge of local communities and indigenous firekeepers. Making prescribed burns routine, not rare. And creating a civilian wildfire service so the armed forces can return to their real work..BRODIE: One province, one nation?.The irony is thick. Ottawa says it wants to “build resilience.” Yet by ignoring practical prevention in favour of political storytelling, it leaves Canadians more vulnerable every summer. The government talks about controlling carbon, but it cannot even control a forest fire. It talks about resilience, but it cannot keep the smoke out of Calgary or the ashes off cars in Toronto.Canadians deserve better than this performance politics. Fires cannot be put out by press releases. They require sweat, planning, and respect for experience. Until Ottawa learns that, the country will continue to burn — and the only thing under control will be the narrative.
