The federal and provincial governments are teaming up to make sure Manitoba is ready to tackle wildfires this year and in the future.
At a press conference Thursday from the Manitoba Legislature, federal emergency preparedness minister Harjit Sajjan announced $19.2 million in funding, which will be matched by the province.
Wildfires are currently raging in regions across Canada, including a blaze in northern Manitoba that forced the evacuation of the entire community of Cranberry Portage earlier this week.
Rainy conditions have led to encouraging news for evacuees, who may be able to return home as soon as this weekend.
Sajjan said the issue of wildfires across the country is something the government is taking “extremely seriously”.
“While wildfires have always occurred across Canada, what is new is their frequency and their intensity,” he said, “and the science is clear — the root cause of this fire is climate change.
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“It’s not just about fighting climate change going forward. It’s also about adapting to the impacts that we are already to and feeling today.
“Our first priority is to protect the lives and livelihoods of Canadians. And increasingly this starts with accepting the scientific reality of climate change and taking thoughtful and impactful action to address it.”
Manitoba’s economic development and natural resources minister, Jamie Moses, said the current fires mark an earlier-than-anticipated start to wildfire season, and that the funding from both levels of government will go to the front lines, where it’s needed most.
“This shared cost with the province and the federal government means that these dollars go further to support the ground operations in northern communities to fight wildfires,” Moses said.
“The funding will go toward enhancing firefighting equipment, ensuring that we have the right staff through active training, investing in prevention and mitigation capacity, as well as modernizing our information technology systems.
“This is what it means to provide more support for wildfires. And that support is coming. Now it’s time for us to enhance our preparedness, our response capacity and the coordination throughout Manitoba.”