Ford calls for national fire strategy, criticizes Trump for not helping Ontario

Doug Ford calls for national fire strategy, criticizes Trump for not helping Ontario LAURA STONE QUEEN'S PARK REPORTER JESSE WINTER WILLOW FIDDLER OM SHANBHAG PUBLISHED YESTERDAY UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO Open this photo in gallery: An evacuee from Neskantaga First Nation prepares to board a flight at Lansdowne House on Monday. CHRIS YOUNG/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. As wildfires continued to move rapidly across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said he plans to discuss the need for a national fire strategy with his fellow premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney when they meet in Prince Edward Island later this week. Canada does not have a national wildland firefighting strategy, despite long-standing calls to create one. It’s also one of the few G7 countries that does not have a stand-alone federal emergency management agency. In June, a key recommendation of a Senate committee report called Canada On Fire urged the creation of a federal co-ordinating office for wildfires and emergency response, modelled after existing organizations in the United States, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. In a statement, a spokesperson for federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said Ottawa has been mulling the creation of a federal emergency management agency, “including but not limited to wildfire,” since March, when a public feedback period on the idea closed. “It has been an active discussion during the spring and summer,” spokesperson Mathis Denis wrote in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. At an update Monday morning at the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre in Toronto, Mr. Ford said the fires burning in Ontario have grown from 650,000 hectares to 735,000 hectares since the weekend. He said there are currently 190 wildland fires in the province and 56 are out of control. There are roughly 700 people on 155 fire crews battling the blazes, and approximately 80 water bombers and helicopters currently deployed, as well as 40 aircraft ready to assist. Mr. Ford said 13 communities have been evacuated, with 1,800 evacuees sent to cities including Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Niagara Falls and Toronto. Hydro crews were working on Sunday to restore power to the Lac des Mille Lacs area where a wildfire remained active, destroying camps and homes, Ministry of Natural Resources sergeant conservation officer Davis Viehbeck…