Fuck you Canada! [Canada is on fire thread]

NO ONE WILL TAKE MY MENTHOLS.

Canada wildfires: Trudeau deploys military to tackle blazes across British Columbia

This is some fucking bullshit y’all.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Alberta isn’t developed enough to handle their forests (or oil) and a more mature authority might need to step in and… help them… for a bit…

BC has declared a state of emergency, the fires are plentiful and out of control

Thres a lot of chatter out there that despite levying us plebs with a carbon tax, on top of the insane amount of taxes we already pay, that none of it has gone to purchasing new water bombers, more firefighters or upping preventative measures for forest fires

Trudeau man, might go down as the worst prime minister in Canadian history

He apparently also stole all your periods.

For real though how much of this is Federal (or do y’all call it Confederal?) vs Province. Most of what I have been hearing has been attacking the Alberta government and their (lack of) land management.

It's provincial... mostly.


Firefighters’ union says Ford government is failing the province
Jun 9, 2023 | News

Ontario is witnessing an alarming surge in wildfires this year, with a total of 187 blazes reported across the province as of June 9.

This number is more than twice the total number of the 79 wildfires seen in 2022.

The unprecedented number has also surpassed the 10-year average of 169 wildfires, raising concerns about the rising threat to the region’s forests, wildlife, and communities.

Mississauga Fire Deputy Chief Rob Grimwood, who is also president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC), said this year saw an awful start when it comes to forest fires.

“They’re very unpredictable and we never know how bad a forest fire season is going to be,” Grimwood said.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), in a statement to Humber News, said there are longstanding short-staffing issues within the Ministry’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES).

Kim Johnston, OPSEU communications supervisor said the residents of Ontario are “in real danger” due to a cut in the number of crews.

“Fewer crews mean less capacity to respond to multiple fires on the ground. These crews can’t be split up,” she said.

The 2019 Ontario budget cut emergency forest firefighting to $69.8 million from $212 million.

Grimwood said forest fires are usually caused by weather conditions like lightning, human activities like campfires and fireworks, and climate conditions like hotter temperatures.

He said firefighters are “working long hours in adverse and dangerous conditions doing intense work.

“I don’t think the general population appreciates the human toll it takes on our firefighters in these conditions,” he said.

Johnston said the Ford government “is failing our fire services and Ontario’s northern communities.”

“The entire forest fire fighting system depends on a whole range of skilled workers on ground crews, air crews and in logistics. But, this system has been breaking down for years,” she said.

According to provincial stats, two new fires, Chapleau 9 and Sault Ste Marie 7, were confirmed in the Northeast Ontario sector on June 8.

Cochrane 6 and Cochrane 7, in the northeast sector which has 34 confirmed wildfires, are the biggest in the province, affecting an area of more than 8,000 hectares.

Sudbury 17 was reported to be 5,277 hectares and not under control as of Friday afternoon.

In Northwestern Ontario, Sioux Lookout 7 located north of the remote First Nation of Cat Lake is the biggest, affecting an area of more than 9,000 hectares.

Northwest Ontario has 24 active confirmed fires.

Jess Kaknevicius, CEO of Forests Ontario, said it is important to manage landscapes to prevent forest fires.

“Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of forest fires, as drier and hotter conditions make larger fires more likely,” Kaknevicius said.

She said we need to engage the next generation in understanding career opportunities to help with fire suppression and forest management in the future.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, as of June 8, there are 424 active fires in the country. Canada has recorded 2,402 wildfires to date.

The Societe De Protection Des Forets reports Quebec is the most affected province with 125 active fires. The province has seen 444 wildfires so far in 2023.

Alberta has 72 active wildfires, according to statistics from the province, out of the 616 fires it has seen this year.

Don't listen to Turk (even though Doug Ford is a douchebag.)

It's mostly federal.

Canada frankly wouldn't exist as a country without all the federal transfer payments to the provinces. Our tax structure is almost an inverse pyramid compared to the United States. The federal government holds the bulk of the taxation power, so they collect an enormous amount of tax revenue. By contrast, the provinces can collect things like smaller portion of income and/or sales taxes, while the municipalities/counties have almost no taxation power except for property taxes.

The upshot of this is that a lot of local (and very important) issues get really screwed because of funding. And our education and health care systems are primarily provincial responsibility and would collapse overnight without the billions of dollars the federal government pours into them. So provinces are in the unenviable position of having to cut in other areas just to keep the lights on in our schools and hospitals.

There needs to be a massive rethink of Canada's taxation structure, but sadly the federal government holds most of the cards.

Also, forest fires don't respect provincial boundaries, so the federal government absolutely has a role to play.

seems to me the Feds have been coming up with their end though

they sent Onterrible nearly $5B more this year than in 2019... what's Doug spent it on? Cutting representation and increasing police budgets?

Likewise, Alberta (so aptly named) got another $1.5B raise in their allowance over that period.

Maybe having a bunch of trust fund babies in charge (at both levels)isn't the wisest way to spend within a budget...

Look at the Wikipedia link you provided and the table of federal transfer payments. Equalization payments to Ontario have actually been going down since 2015. That is likely because of the fucked-up formula for equalization payments (there is no way Ontario's fiscal books have improved since 2015).

In addition, going back to the Harper days, the federal government has been slashing the long-term Canada Health Transfer to the provinces.

The biggest culprit in all of this is Quebec, which is has been suckling at the Canadian taxpayer teat since Confederation. Quebec would be completely fucked if they ever separated.

well, it's the government/ministry of finance site I linked to, but yeah, equalization is the one out of three things listed where we've supported far more than we've been supported.

But hell, going back to the Harris days, the province has been selling off or amalgamating our healthcare.

Be happy to run guns to Canada, if that's what it takes for you to "explain it to them" as to why you want to keep your healthcare. 400K+/yr dead Americans can't be wrong that our system sucks ass.

are those all uninsured/untreated, or just the gun deaths?

Those are what's termed "excess deaths." Meaning you compare the number of Americans who die each year, with the number of people who die in a country that has similar levels of industrialization, etc. and adjust for things like population differences. Compared to places like Canada, the UK, and the EU, our population is dying at a higher rate, and sicker, than to those of the other countries. So, if we had UHC as those countries do, 400K+ Americans would be alive each year, instead of dying.

By comparison, gun deaths and automobile wrecks kill about a combined total of 80K/year in America. Another 100K/yr are killed or permanently disabled by medical malpractice. IIRC, the average time between doctor's visits for most American adults, is measured in years. Not because they don't need to see the doc, but simply because they can't afford to do so, regardless of if they're insured or not.

Our system is so broken that people cannot imagine how dysfunctional it is.

https://www.businessinsider.com/for...st-pleaded-guilty-to-starting-14-fires-2024-1

Aw man, Alberta barely got snow until January this winter. Next wildfire season is going to be insane.

caught the newsticker on my way home today... there're still 50 burning in BC???

So not global warming.

Certainly, global warming isn't responsible for the ignition of those fires. But the conditions that allowed them to spread and burn so much of the country? Quite probably.

Or poor land management.

I’ll also reckons you that at the end of ice ages the ice caps melt.

Do you think that a society that can't take the necessary steps to deal with global warming is going to be good at land management?

other than the one on the top of your head, I'm not seeing your point?

His point seems to be that the jews named their spacer laser Brian. (The canadian guy who was setting the fires in the article)

Let us just hope the boy's mom hides the matches in the house well. Otherwise we might have the same thing going on in Virginia.

The point is this natural and has nothing to do with supposed human caused climate change.

so it was just the point on your head after all, huh?
because you've been shown the scientific evidence for years
you've even had it explained to you using only the primary coloured crayons and words of mostly less than five letters.

yet you still insist on the denial side as prescribed by the fossil fuel industry like a good little libertarian.