U.S. Republican politicians from Michigan are demanding immediate action from Canada as smoke from northern Ontario wildfires drifts across the border.
In a press release titled “Canada’s Apologies Won’t Clear Michigan’s Skies,” four Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote, “after repeated conversations sharing concerns, and a lack of meaningful progress, the Members are making it clear that continued inaction from Canada is unacceptable.”
On Wednesday, Reps. Jack Bergman, John James, Lisa McClain and John Moolenaar penned a joint letter about the wildfire smoke, to Prime Minister Mark Carney warning him that Michigan Republicans’ “patience has run out.”
The group of Republicans wrote, “we were told last year that this would be treated with urgency. It was not.” The letter continued, describing how measures to mitigate wildfire have not been put in place “adequately enough to matter to the people we represent.”
The American politicians said Canada’s “attitude is unacceptable from a neighbour and an ally.”
The group wrote that if the fires cannot be controlled, the U.S. will have to look elsewhere for help, or act on their own to protect their people.
“It means reconsidering how much benefit of the doubt this relationship continues to earn on an issue where American lungs are paying the price for Canadian inaction, year after year.”
U.S. ambassador to Canada: ’This is a shared challenge’
The U.S. ambassador to Canada struck a different note. Pete Hoekstra, who says Michigan is his “home state,” released a statement on Wednesday commending the co-operation between the two countries as they fight the wildfires together.
Hoekstra wrote, “this challenge knows no borders. The United States will continue to co-ordinate closely with Canada, just as we have for more than four decades of shared wildfire emergencies.”
The ambassador praised the collaboration between Canada and U.S., saying it “reflects our partnership at its best.”
