Manitoba Premier Defends Wildfire Response Amid US Lawmakers' Criticism

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has strongly responded to criticism from several U.S. Republican lawmakers, including representatives from Minnesota and Wisconsin, who sent a letter to the Canadian ambassador expressing concerns about wildfire smoke drifting into the United States. The lawmakers attributed the wildfires to poor forest management and arson and urged Canada to improve its wildfire mitigation efforts. Premier Kinew defended Canada's firefighting efforts, highlighting the assistance of American firefighters working in northern Manitoba and criticizing the U.S. politicians for politicizing a crisis that has caused loss of life in his province. He described the lawmakers as 'ambulance chasers' and accused them of trivializing a severe wildfire season to gain political advantage. The smoke has prompted air quality advisories across several regions in both Canada and the U.S. The dispute underscores tensions around cross-border wildfire impacts and differing views on forest management and wildfire causes.