The Liberal government has been forced to begrudgingly admit that the number of wildfires across the country is well below last year’s figure and the 10-year average.
At a press conference, Liberal minister Harjit Sajjan said, “There are now 69 active wildfires burning. To date, 500,000 hectares have burnt. But in spite of this situation, the good news is that the number of fires [is] well below average for this time of the year.”
“It is also well below the ten-year average for the total area burned for this time last year, as well,” he continued.
It is also worth mentioning that in Alberta—which is often made out to be the poster child for wildfires in Canada—not only are wildfires down, but of those that had occurred up to mid-May, over three-quarters were linked to human activity. Not one was linked to climate change or hot temperatures.
Despite the good news, however, the feds are still warning about a summer ablaze with wildfires across Canada due to “warmer than normal” temperatures.
“Unfortunately, this forecasting continues what has become an alarming and all-too-predictable trend,” said Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
“Climate forecasts indicate that the coming summer months will likely be warmer than normal in most of Canada, with parts of the country seeing less rainfall than normal.”
Northern Forestry Centre Director-General Michael Norton shared these concerns, saying that “above normal levels of wildland fire activity remain likely”.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada is warning of “severe weather events” and releasing weather maps that depict Canada as being swallowed up by heatwaves everywhere that the temperature is predicted to be just slightly above average.
