Prime Minister Trudeau says Ottawa will work with municipalities to deal with climate change
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will work closely with municipalities to deal with the effects of climate change, even if Ottawa and the provinces in question aren’t getting along.
Trudeau used a speech to members of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities to send a message about the practices of some Conservative provincial governments. The prime minister urged politicians of all stripes not to close their eyes to extreme weather events becoming the norm.
Wildfires raging in Alberta continue to grow
The fire raging near High Level, Alberta was burning at an average speed of 23-metres per minute and has raced through at least 23-hundred square kilometres of forest.
Fires in the province have forced more than 10-thousandpeople from their homes and the situation could get worse — with people in Slave Lake on an evacuation alert. Smoke is drifting as far south from Alberta as Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington state and Wyoming.
Icebreakers not on the list of vessels being purchased by Ottawa
Ottawa plans to invest $15.6-billion-dollars in new ships, but none of the 18 vessels it plans to buy is an icebreaker.
That won’t help the Coast Guard, which has struggled to resupply northern communities and rescue ice-jammed ferries, with its aging fleet of icebreakers. Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledges the need for new icebreakers, but isn’t saying if or when the government might look at  buying some.
