Democratic Sen. Patty Murray says recent statements from U.S. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, criticizing Canada for its wildfire management are insulting and ridiculous.
The representative for Washington made her remarks in the U.S. Senate Wednesday as Republican John Hoeven sought unanimous consent to pass a resolution he described as “calling for action from the Canadian government to fight the wildfires that send smoke over the borders.”
“Over the past several days, more than 100 million people nationwide have been under air alerts due to the smoke from Canadian wildfires,” he said.
While Hoeven stated he has “tremendous respect” for Canadians and expressed sympathy for those forced from their homes due to the fires, he also claimed the country’s leadership has failed to take enough responsibility for preventing fires from happening — a notion Murray called “a joke.”
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“I’m going to ask pretty bluntly, ‘What on earth are my colleagues doing here?'” she said.
Murray pointed out that Canadian firefighters regularly cross over into the United States to help with wildfire fighting efforts there, including a B.C. helicopter pilot who died while on wildfire duty in Colorado on July 12.
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She also levelled criticism at recent cuts made to U.S. firefighting forces that she said had come under DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — which spearheaded hundreds of layoffs across the public service.
“You want to work together to fight wildfires, my door is open,” she said, adding “I will not insult our Canadian friends.”
The debate in the United States came around the same time a U.S. wildfire in Washington state spread across the border into Canada.
On Wednesday, the North Cascades National Park Service shared the news that two wildfires, known as Border 1 and Border 2, had combined and moved into B.C., sending smoke into the Fraser Valley and E.C. Manning Provincial Park.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says the fire is suspected to be caused by lightning and does not currently pose a threat to homes or critical infrastructure, while U.S. officials say it is in remote, steep and densely forested and rocky terrain.
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Wildfire scientists have pointed out that counter to claims from U.S. Republicans, the process of simply putting out every wildfire across Canada and the United States’ vast geography is largely impossible precisely because of these sorts of remote locations, and in some cases counterproductive as fires can be a natural part of ecosystem management.
They also agree that fossil fuel use has been creating hotter, drier conditions leading to longer and more intense wildfire seasons on both sides of the border.
Meanwhile, B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar told CBC News that despite political rhetoric, wildfire fighters from B.C. will continue to work alongside those from the United States to tackle the problem.
“Donald Trump’s not involved so that makes it a lot easier,” he said.
“We have strong partnerships at an international level, with Washington, with Oregon, with California, with those that border our province, and fire don’t respect boundaries. And we are going to continue to support them, just as they know they’re going to continue to support us.”
