Alberta Premier Danielle Smith downplays link between wildfires and climate change
Premier Danielle Smith says the government is bringing in arson investigators from outside the province to trace the cause of some wildfires during an unprecedented season in Alberta.
In an interview on Real Talk Ryan Jespersen, the host asked Smith how she reconciles her government's energy policies with experts linking this year's extreme fire season to climate change.
"It's a real-life metaphor … happening in front of us with a historic wildfire season," Jespersen said to Smith during Thursday's show.
"Every expert that we talk to indicates the significant factor that climate change is playing on our susceptibility to wildfire and on the conditions that lead to these massive blazes that are happening earlier and earlier in the season."
Smith responded that she's concerned about arson being the cause in some of the fires.
"We are bringing in arson investigators from outside the province," she said. "We have almost 175 fires with no known cause at the moment. Sometimes they are very easy to trace — when you have lightning storms, it's easy to trace. When you have a train derailment, that's easy to trace."
Scientists have said fires are larger and more intense, often burning throughout the night, due to climate change.
Jespersen followed up with Smith during Thursday's interview, noting that the hot and dry conditions that allow fires to grow are connected to climate change.
Smith again didn't acknowledge his comment, instead suggesting the Alberta government needs to do a better job building fireguards around communities.
"You have to make sure when a forest fire begins that it doesn't jump over into a town or a city because that's when you end up with real trouble," she said. "I think we did a fantastic job this time around."
Alberta has had an unprecedented start to its wildfire season, with fires scorching more than 10,000 square kilometres of forest since March.
Xianli Wang, a fire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, said climate change is a major factor.
"It creates longer drought spells in the fire season, and also fire season is going to start early and end late," he said. "It creates more opportunity for fire to ignite."
Wang said about half of the wildfires in any given year are caused by lightning strikes, while the other half are human caused.
No matter how they start, though, he said hot and dry conditions also make the fuel — plants and logs in the forests — drier so fires burn more intensely and cover more ground.
The amount of land burned surpassed the 40,000-square-kilometre mark on Wednesday, making the 2023 fire season Canada's fourth-worst on record before the summer has officially begun.
"It is just not a random thing. Climate change is playing a major role to make it happen," Wang said.
Other conservative politicians have also tried to downplay the link between climate change and the hundreds of wildfires burning across Canada, which led to air quality alerts in U.S. cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. this week.
On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested the issue was being politicized when he was asked by the opposition parties to go on the record to connect this year's fire season to climate change.
Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party, accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of lying on social media after Trudeau tweeted that Canada is seeing more fires due to climate change.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
— By Colette Derworiz in Calgary
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A step forward': New screening criteria for sperm donors takes effect
Canadians looking to grow their families with the assistance of sperm or egg donations should soon have more options for donors as the federal health agency does away with longstanding restrictions criticized as discriminatory.
Ontario Provincial Police arrest 64 suspects in child sexual exploitation investigation
Ontario Provincial Police say 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned the province.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his head more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
What is whooping cough and should Canadians be concerned as Europe declares outbreak?
There is currently a whooping cough epidemic in Europe, with 10 times as many cases compared to the previous two years. While an outbreak has not been declared nationwide in Canada, whooping cough is regularly detected in the country.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Case against ex-Mountie charged with helping China can go ahead in Quebec, judge says
A Quebec court judge has ruled that the case against a former RCMP officer charged with helping China conduct foreign interference can go ahead in the province.
Steve Albini, legendary producer for Nirvana, the Pixies and an alternative rock pioneer, dies at 61
Steve Albini, an alternative rock pioneer and legendary producer who shaped the musical landscape through his work with Nirvana, the Pixies, PJ Harvey and more, has died. He was 61.
Ippei Mizuhara, ex-interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani, will plead guilty in betting case
The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case in which prosecutors allege he stole nearly US$17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Watch fighter jet pilots pummel fake enemy ship off coast of Philippines
The United States and Philippines held annual joint-training drills just off the Southeast Asian nation’s western coast on Wednesday. Military forces sunk a 'mock' enemy warship – the BRP Lake Caliraya, which was a decommissioned tanker made in China.