NDP MPPs slam Ford and his Ministers for wildland firefighting crew shortages

NORTHERN ONTARIO – Following reports of crew shortages in wildfire fighting operations, NDP Shadow Minister of Forestry, MPP Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk – James Bay) and MPP for Thunder Bay – Superior North, Lise Vaugeois, released the following joint statement:

"There continues to be a significant gap between what the government says is happening and what communities, First Nation leaders, and frontline responders are experiencing on the ground," said MPP Bourgouin.

"There is a clear discrepancy between the government's public claims about the availability of aircraft, equipment, and resources, and the actual inventory and capacity available to respond to these fires. Because of this, we are seeing northern communities pay the price for this government's lack of transparency."

"For years, firefighters, First Nations leaders, and the Auditor General, have been sounding the alarm about the need to prepare for climate change and double the resources at the preparation stage if we want to be able to manage forest fires in Ontario. Ford and his conservatives have ignored every single recommendation, and the result is the catastrophic loss of previously thriving communities and businesses”, said MPP Vaugeois.

“Minister Harris claims that they hired 168 new staff, but the truth is that these are not new positions; these are existing positions that have been renamed. He also fails to mention that we are losing experienced wildland firefighters due to burnout and retention issues. We did not have enough people; we did not have the equipment to get them to the fires before they grew too large to control; and community after community had to fend for their lives without warning or support.

"We needed resources to be able to prepare so things did not become so dire. Pretending otherwise is profoundly disrespectful to people who have lost everything because of this government’s complete lack of planning.”