Latest news with #KirstenHillman
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
What are the chances of a U.S. trade deal by Aug. 1?
As Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and U.S. Ambassador Kirsten Hillman meet in Washington with U.S. senators and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Power Panel discusses Ottawa's shift to downplaying the chances of a trade deal by President Donald Trump's Aug. 1 deadline for increased tariffs.
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Republicans blame Canada for wildfire smoke ‘suffocating' the U.S.
TORONTO -- Smoke from Canadian wildfires is casting a shadow for many Americans this summer, a group of six Republican lawmakers say, and they want Canada to answer for it. 'In our neck of the woods, summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories,' the U.S. representatives from Wisconsin and Minnesota wrote in a letter this week. 'But this wildfire smoke makes it difficult to do all those things.' Their letter, addressed to Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the United States, demanded to know her government's plan for tackling the wildfires and accused it of lax forest management that has contributed to 'suffocating' smoke. 'Our communities shouldn't suffer because of poor decisions made across the border,' Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., one of the letter's authors, said in a post on social platform X. Canada's government said it was reviewing the letter and planned to offer a response. The letter was also signed by Reps. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota. Tarryn Elliott, a spokesperson at the Canadian Embassy, said in an email that 'Canada takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously.' The premier of Manitoba province in western Canada, where wildfires have been particularly bad and killed two people in May, blasted the letter by the U.S. lawmakers. The official, Wab Kinew, told reporters Thursday that the lawmakers were 'trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we've lost lives in our province.' The U.S. lawmakers also partly blamed arson for the wildfires, but the vast majority of the blazes are actually caused by lightning. Many of the areas where fires burn are in areas so remote that forest management techniques to lessen their severity, such as prescribed burns and thinning combustible plant matter, are not possible. About 45% of Canada's forests that are on public land are managed, while 30% are not, according to the federal government. Fire is also an important natural process in boreal forest ecosystems, helping create openings in the tree canopy that allow sunlight to reach smaller plants and enriching the soil with burned plant matter. Canada, which is home to some of the world's largest tracts of boreal forests, is accustomed to the seasonal rhythm of wildfires, but the country's annual fire season became a major issue in the United States in 2023. That year, when wildfires burned more land in Canada than had ever been recorded, smoke from uncontrollable flames, particularly across Quebec, was so intense it turned the skies over New York City a frightening shade of orange. Michael Waddington, a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who studies the interaction between wildfires and forested lands, said a warming climate was turning those landscapes into a tinderbox. 'The United States is, for the most part, the main reason for that,' said Waddington, referring to the U.S. role in planet-warming greenhouse emissions. China is the largest emitter. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement in 2020 during his first presidency and again this past January, a few months after he was reelected. While Canadian officials do not expect this year's wildfires to be as bad as they were two years ago, burning forests did trigger air quality warnings in May and June in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. So far this year, almost 12 million acres, an area about twice the size of Vermont, have burned and more than 30,000 people were forced to temporarily evacuate their homes. Manitoba, one of the harder hit western provinces, declared a state of emergency Thursday for the second time this year because of wildfires. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Gizmodo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Gizmodo
U.S. Lawmakers Blame Canada for Ruining Summer With Wildfire Smoke
The Canadian province of Manitoba is suffering through its worst wildfire season in its history, and to add insult to injury, several U.S. lawmakers are complaining that smoke wafting south is making it difficult for Americans to enjoy summer. Six Republican Congress members shared their concerns in a letter addressed to Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman on Monday, July 7, asking for more information about how the government plans to mitigate wildfires and the smoke that travels south. Since January, over 3,000 wildfires have consumed more than 5 million acres, killed two people, and displaced tens of thousands more in Canada. The lawmakers explain that resulting poor air quality in the U.S. has prevented Americans from partaking in outdoor summer activities. Compared to the devastation Canadians have faced this year, these issues are glaringly trivial. 'This is what turns people off politics. When you've got a group of congresspeople trying to trivialise and make hay out of a wildfire season where we've lost lives in our province,' Wab Kinew, premier of Manitoba, said during a press conference Thursday, July 10. Manitoba had just declared a state of emergency for the second time this year due to unprecedented wildfire activity. The province's wildfire service reported 105 active fires burning on Thursday, including 14 that were listed as 'out of control' across the eastern, western, and northern parts of the province. Still, the lawmakers—Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Michelle Fischbach, Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, and Tom Emmer of Minnesota—suggest Canada should be doing more to manage this ongoing crisis. 'While we know a key driver of this issue has been a lack of active forest management, we've also seen things like arson as another way multiple large wildfires have ignited in Canada,' the letter reads. 'With all the technology that we have at our disposal, both in preventing and fighting wildfires, this worrisome trend can be reversed if proper action is taken.' The letter provides no evidence to back up accusations of poor forest management. While some experts have made this claim before, Canada is recognized as a global leader in sustainable forest management, applying it across roughly 91% of the country's 857 million acres of forest land. What's more, the lawmakers make no mention of climate change as a significant driver of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires. 'We know that the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change have contributed to increase the hot, dry conditions that lead to more unmanageable fires,' Rebecca Saari, who serves as a Canada research chair in global change, atmosphere, and health as well as an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo, told Gizmodo. For example, during the 2023 wildfire season—Canada's worst on record—climate change doubled the likelihood of extreme fire weather in Quebec, Saari explained. 'That extreme weather led to higher risk, which created the mixture that led to the really high smoke levels in parts of the eastern U.S. that we saw in 2023,' she said. So we know it's happened in the past. And we expect that climate change will—this century—double the risks of unmanageable fires in parts of Canada.' The U.S. is among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters. In 2022, it produced nearly nine times more carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion than Canada, according to the International Energy Agency. It's no surprise that the Republican lawmakers did not include this context in their letter. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump and his administration have worked to erase any mention of climate change from federal websites and correspondence. Just like greenhouse gas emissions, wildfire smoke knows no borders. As U.S. emissions continue to raise global temperatures, Canadian wildfire smoke will continue wafting southward and posing risks to Americans' health, particularly in states close to the U.S.-Canada border such as Michigan, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The risks, however, will be far greater for Canadians living near the sources of this smoke, as the impact on air quality decreases as distance from the fire increases. For example, 'fires in the Canadian prairies are [causing] hazardous air pollution levels there. Downwind, in the plumes reaching North Dakota and Minnesota, they are less polluted,' Saari explained. What's more, U.S. air pollution already significantly harms Canadians' health. A 2024 study found that one in five premature deaths in Canada due to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure—the main air pollutant in wildfire smoke—are attributable to U.S. sources. The researchers also found that more than half of premature deaths due to ozone exposure in Canada were linked to U.S. sources. Tarryn Elliot, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C., told the BBC the embassy had received the letter and shared it with the relevant Canadian agencies. 'We will respond in due course,' she said. It's unclear exactly what U.S. lawmakers expect Canada to do with their complaints. The government has already responded aggressively to this crisis, convening a high-level Incident Response Group, triggering national mobilization of firefighting forces, and deploying military personnel to support air evacuations. The Canadian government 'takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously,' Elliot said. Instead of pointing the finger at a nation in crisis, it's time for the U.S. to take a good, hard look at how its emissions are contributing to worsening wildfire conditions in Canada and other parts of the world, too. Perhaps then, summers will become safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
Newsweek
11-07-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
Thousands of Americans Told to Keep Windows Shut
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An air quality alert was in effect for northwest and north-central Minnesota on Friday, with officials warning that wildfire smoke could prompt unhealthy levels of air pollution. Why It Matters Experts caution that unhealthy air quality heightens health risks for vulnerable populations, such as older adults, young children, and those with respiratory illnesses. Six members of Congress have written Canada's embassy to complain that smoke from Canadian wildfires is drifting south and making it difficult for Americans to enjoy summer. "We write to you today on behalf of our constituents who have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer," they told Ambassador Kirsten Hillman of fiires that have been raging this summer. What To Know According to the alert, published by the National Weather Service (NWS), thick smoke at ground level from wildfires in central Canada was expected to drift into northwest Minnesota early Friday morning. The first wave of smoke would swiftly pass through northern Minnesota during the day and reach the northeast region by Friday evening, it forecast. A second, broader smoke plume was expected to arrive in northwest Minnesota later Friday evening. This next wave was likely to cover a larger area and could affect much of the northern half of the state on Saturday, the alert said. Officials said the air quality alert might need to be extended to account for this second event. Cleaner air was forecast to arrive from the west on Sunday, leading to improved air quality by Sunday afternoon. "Reduce or eliminate activities that contribute to air pollution, such as outdoor burning, and use of residential wood burning devices," the alert advised. "Reduce vehicle trips and vehicle idling as much as possible. Keep windows closed overnight to prevent smoke from getting indoors." Air pollution is measured using the Air Quality Index (AQI), which runs on a scale from 0 to 300 and above. 0–50 (Green): Good. Air quality is satisfactory. Good. Air quality is satisfactory. 51–100 (Yellow): Moderate. Air quality is acceptable, with potential concerns for sensitive individuals. Moderate. Air quality is acceptable, with potential concerns for sensitive individuals. 101–150 (Orange): Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Air quality may affect people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant individuals. Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Air quality may affect people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant individuals. 151–200 (Red): Unhealthy. Everyone may begin to experience health effects, and sensitive groups may see more serious effects. Unhealthy. Everyone may begin to experience health effects, and sensitive groups may see more serious effects. 201–300 (Purple): Very Unhealthy. The risk of health effects is increased for everyone. Very Unhealthy. The risk of health effects is increased for everyone. 301 and above (Maroon): Hazardous. The air quality requires a health warning of emergency conditions, and everyone is more likely to be affected. What People Are Saying The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said on X, Thursday: "An air quality alert has been issued due to wildfire smoke for Friday, July 11, for northwest and north central Minnesota. Air quality is expected to reach the purple AQI category in northwest Minnesota, which is very unhealthy for everyone." Jonathan Grigg, professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary, University of London, previously told Newsweek that there are "very clear links" between inhaling particles and earlier death from both respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. He added: "There are vulnerable groups and classically they are children because they've got an extra issue to do with their lungs developing, whereas our lungs are not developing as adults." Tom Emmer, serving as Majority Whip in the House of Representatives an five fellow Republican lawmakers wrote in a letter, published Monday, to Canada's embassy: "We would like to know how your government plans on mitigating wildfire and the smoke that makes its way south." They added: "Our constituents have been limited in their ability to go outside and safely breathe due to the dangerous air quality the wildfire smoke has created. A spokesperson for the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C., Tarryn Elliott, told the BBC the Canadian government "takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously". What Happens Next At the time of writing, the air quality alert for Minnesota was in place until 6 p.m. CDT on Friday.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Republicans Blame Canada for Wildfire Smoke ‘Suffocating' the U.S.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires is casting a shadow for many Americans this summer, a group of six Republican lawmakers say, and they want Canada to answer for it. 'In our neck of the woods, summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories,' the U.S. representatives from Wisconsin and Minnesota wrote in a letter this week. 'But this wildfire smoke makes it difficult to do all those things.' In their letter, addressed to Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., demanded to know the her government's plan for tackling the wildfires and accused it of lax forest management which has contributed to 'suffocating' smoke. 'Our communities shouldn't suffer because of poor decisions made across the border,' Tom Tiffany, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin and one of the letter's authors, said in a post on X. Canada's government said it was reviewing the letter and planned to offer a response. The letter was also signed by Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota. Tarryn Elliott, a spokeswoman at the Canadian Embassy, said in an email that 'Canada takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously.' The premier of Manitoba province in Western Canada, where wildfires have been particularly bad and killed two people in May, blasted the letter by the U.S. lawmakers. The official, Wab Kinew, told reporters on Thursday that the lawmakers were 'trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we've lost lives in our province.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
