This is just plain dumb (please forgive the technical political science terminology–I know it gets to be a bit much sometimes!).
First, US Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH): Moreno Announces Bill to Sanction Canada for Wildfire Pollution Emergency.
Today, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) announced he will introduce legislation to sanction Canada and Canadian officials for their failure to contain wildfires impacting air quality across Ohio and the Great Lakes region. Canada’s government failed to invest in wildfire prevention methods including forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and stronger enforcement against arson.
Second, Trump:
I am no more an expert on forest management than are Moreno and Trump (although I bet I know more about plants and gardening than at least Trump does, a low bar, no doubt). So, might there be some elements of forest management that could have had some marginal effect on all of this? Maybe, but the reality is that this is about the weather (and, dare I say it, climate change).
BTW, it is rich for President Drain the Swamp to complain that the Canadian government doesn’t employ enough people to do forest management.
At any rate, the BBC reports:
The National Interagency Fire Centre in the US and Natural Resources Canada predicted this was likely because of sustained hot weather at the end of June across northern Ontario, and below average rainfall.
This hot weather is being caused by a heat dome – an area of high pressure that gets stuck trapping warm air and the smoke underneath.
Extreme and long-lasting heat draws more moisture out of soils and plants – this dry vegetation acts as fuel for fires.
But this hot air can also become unstable causing the risk of storms which can produce strong winds – causing the fires and smoke to spread.
I can personally attest that hot, dry conditions can lead to fire rapidly getting out of control. This past February, a neighbor was doing what would have normally been a reasonable controlled burn on his property that rapidly got out of control. The combination of dry conditions, usually low humidity, and a slight breeze meant a very dangerous and scary situation. Luckily, the local volunteer fire department was Johnny-on-the-spot.
So, is it surprising that extreme and unusual heat combined with extremely dry conditions could result in this outcome?
No.
No, it isn’t.
And tariffs or other sanctions on Canada won’t fix the problem.
(Tariffs! What can’t they fix?)
Back to the BBC, there are simply a lot of fires. Fires, as a general matter, are normal. Again, what is not normal is the extreme heat and dryness. I think some pointy-headed university types have been warning us about this possibility for decades. Such wokesters and DEI loons!!
There are currently about 888 wildfires actively burning across Canada – nearly 200 of those in Ontario – according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
But sure, let’s just yell at Canada.
It is about as logical as our Iran policy.
