Saturday, May 31, 2025

Updates of the week: Prairie wild fires; TACO Trump tariffs; Trudeau's shoes; and Poilievre is still unpopular

Prairie wildfires update 
 Media are doing a good job covering the wildfires now. The Weather Network piece reports on wind directions around the threatened communities. 
Here is another report on the urgency of the evacuations in Manitoba:
 
More background here: 
Cole Bennett / Cole.notCole
BREAKING: 2,000 Residents Stranded as Wildfire Closes In on Pukatawagan, Manitoba
A fast-moving wildfire is now burning less than 1 km from Pukatawagan, home to Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, where approximately 2,000 people are currently stranded. The community has no summer road access and is normally only reachable by train or air both of which are now cut off...
Caitlyn Gowriluk / CBC News
'Pray for rain,' Manitoba premier says as thousands more flee out-of-control wildfires across province
Wab Kinew urges Manitobans to be calm as crews battle unprecedented fires across all parts of the province
...It's a situation Manitoba has never seen before, as large-scale wildfires burn in every region of the province at the same time, Kinew said at a Friday afternoon news conference, calling the current situation a "serious inflection point," particularly for some of Manitoba's larger northern communities.
"As we head into the weekend, pray for rain. We haven't seen rain in the forecast yet. That could really help — sustained rainfall, in particular," he said. "But in the absence of that, the past few days have been very challenging, and that may continue."
The premier said the wind is expected to soon shift to some "unhelpful directions" for the spread of the fires, which is likely to directly threaten the northwest city of Flin Flon and pose challenges for other communities, including the First Nations communities of Pukatawagan, in northwestern Manitoba, and Tataskweyak to the east. ...He expected Manitoba to reach about 17,000 wildfire evacuees in total later Friday.
The effort to help Manitoba battle its out-of-control wildfires — which already included crews and resources from a number of other provinces and territories — is now also being bolstered by 100 more firefighters and 25 logistics managers from the U.S., Kinew said.
"We cannot thank other jurisdictions enough," he said. "It really does just underline how serious this situation is."...
Saskatchewan updates here:
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix and Regina Leader-Post:
'These are devastating': Dispatches on the Saskatchewan wildfire situation
...Wildfire activity across Western Canada has resulted in air quality advisories and widespread smoke in many parts of Canada and the United States on Friday. “At the moment, our main concerns are northern Alberta, east-central areas (of Alberta), all of Saskatchewan, all of Manitoba, parts of the Northwest Territories and we even have smoke making it to Nunavut,” said Natalie Hasell, warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Weather forecasters in the U.S. are also warning of smoky conditions into the Great Lakes regions and possibly across the Great Plains....
Lisa Schick / CKOM 650
Evacuees step up for shelter pets amid wildfire chaos
...On Tuesday, the wildfire that had started near Creighton on the Saskatchewan side of the border crossed into Manitoba and inched closer and closer to Flin Flon. Nicole Kendrick, president of the Flon Flon/Creighton & Area SPCA, said she was given just two hours to get all of the animals out.
“The smoke was really bad. You could see flames,” said Kendrick.
She said Cliff Lake Road, where the shelter is located, had already been barricaded by police when she arrived. The group put out a call for help on social media, asking for assistance from anyone who could come and help get the animals out.
“People just showed up, and we had all of our animals – which was 13 dogs and 20 cats – we had them all placed with people within an hour and a half,” Kendrick explained.
She said the response from the community was overwhelming.
“At the end of my hour and a half, I sat in the office in the shelter and just had a minute, and I had some tears because I just couldn’t believe how quickly we all came together and got them out,” she said....
paNOW / CKOM 650
Friday wildfire update: Smoke hampering firefighting efforts
Of the 16 wildfires burning in the province, seven are not contained. A total of 16 Saskatchewan communities have been evacuated, leaving approximately 4,300 people displaced.
...In anticipation of the wind shifting to the northwest in the afternoon, crews will be addressing excursions, or portions of wildfires that have broken free from control lines, and spot fires in the stubble. They will also have Smeaton and Choiceland fire departments on alert for help. The guard around Candle Lake is nearing completion and “looks good,” the SPSA [Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency] noted.
Tomorrow, the SPSA will be moving its incident command centre to Choiceland. Candle Lake was a temporary location, but moving to Choiceland will allow easier and closer access to available resources along Highway 55, according to a post on the resort village’s Facebook page.

Mark Carney convened the Incident Response Group on the wildfires in SK and MB, and says the government will match Red Cross donations. #cdnpoli

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— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Here's a broader view too:
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I can add my endorsement about John Vaillant's book Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast - it is just excellent.  I wrote about it in 2023 -- here is an excerpt from the book, and here is the Literary Review of Canada review Alarm Bells   The book is available to borrow digitally through Libby.

TACO Trump update 
The news today about the 50% steel and aluminium tariffs (gift link) was a kick in the gut for Canada. 
I think Trump was just so angry about the courts shutting down most of his crazy tariffs that he couldn't resist laying into us again, and the tariffs on steel and aluminium are one of the few tariffs he had left. 
If there is any silver lining to the week, at least social media is delighted with the new TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) label:
 
I have seen at least four suggestions about why he wore Adidas runners to the Throne speech -- as a tribute to Terry Fox, as a tribute to his father, to dis Harry's dad, and to distract attention from Poilievre. But why can't they all be true?
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And finally --  Poilievre still unpopular!

When I read this duplicitous clown say "Carney’s spending is absolutely out of control" in another piece, would be nice if one "journo" would point out that Poilievre's office spent more than the other leaders COMBINED last year,his expenses were outlandish. Walk the walk or stfu Skippy. #cdnpoli

— Steve Valeriote (@stevev68.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 7:28 AM
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What a nice guy!
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