6 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada's premiers meetings: Kinew seeks federal fire response; shares advice on Trump
Premier Wab Kinew says he's taken up a request from Manitoba fire chiefs to ask his fellow premiers to consider national co-ordination for local fire departments to prepare for future wildfire seasons.
Kinew said he shared with his counterparts gathered in Huntsville, Ont. a request from the Manitoba Association of Fire Chiefs to make sure they're equipped to respond to the next summer's wildfires.
'I think there's general interest from the other premiers,' Kinew said late Tuesday.
Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, greets Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, left, as Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston looks on, during the 2025 summer meetings of Canada's Premiers at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ont., on Tuesday.
On June 30, the chiefs wrote to Kinew on behalf of counterparts across the country asking for support for a 'National Fire Administration' to ensure expertise from fire departments is integrated into federal policy and decision making. The letter noted there are 14 federal departments and more than 50 task groups involved in determining policies with fire, life safety, and emergency management implications for fire departments. A national co-ordinating body would help to modernize Canada's emergency response system and benefit the Manitoba fire service in protecting homes, businesses, and the economy, it said.
The premier said he thanked all his provincial and territorial colleagues for their help during Manitoba's wildfire emergency. He praised firefighters from across the province for saving the city of Flin Flon that was threatened by a 300,000 hectare blaze.
Premier Wab Kinew said his special advisor on U.S. trade and former ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, offered some 'great advice' to Canada's first ministers on how to deal with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump: 'Give him a bumper sticker.'
Kinew said Tuesday that the former NDP premier and David McNaughton, who served as Canada's ambassador to the U.S. during the first Trump administration, joined the premiers for lunch when they gathered in Huntsville, Ont. to grapple with how to respond to the trade war launched by the second Trump administration.
Doer's suggestion was to 'give the president an easy-to-understand win that he can communicate in a line and, of course, to do that within our national interest in standing up for ourselves,' Kinew said.
Weekday Mornings
A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.
Kinew said the federal government is wise not to rush into a trade deal with the U.S. by Trump's Aug. 1 deadline — after which he's promised to raise tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 percent.
'I think future generations are to look back at this moment and they're going to say that 'Our country, at that time, stood up for its independence, stood up for its economy'. When the stakes are that big, we can't rush.'
Carol SandersLegislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
