ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

That’s pathetic and indecent. As I wrote, it runs directly against a long tradition of mutual cross-border support in fighting wildfires. have helped to battle blazes this summer in Canada, just as Canadians pitched in to fight fires in the Los Angeles area earlier this year.

But bad behaviour from American Republicans hardly comes as a surprise these days. It’s no excuse for their insulting language, but the fact is this country can and should do better when it comes to fighting wildfires.

Every summer, it seems, is the worst on record for fire. Climate change is making destruction from wildfires a permanent crisis, one that’s bound to get worse if Canada doesn’t take major steps to prevent fire and mitigate its impact. We’re feeling the effects far from the fires, as anyone in southern Ontario can tell by breathing in the smoke drifting all the way from the Prairies.

But it’s clear we’re not doing all we can. Ontario, to take one example, can’t even staff its fire ranger program properly. As the Star’s climate change reporter, Marco Chown Oved, documented in an excellent series last month, the province’s response is hampered by a shortage of firefighters.

“Ten years ago,� he reported, “there were 732 fire rangers. Now there are 630. At a time when the threat of forest fires is greater than it has ever been, our front line of defence is understaffed by more than 100 firefighters. And with fewer fire rangers, reaction time to new fires is slower and more of them are escaping containment.�

One of the reasons is that pay for fire rangers just hasn’t kept up. It’s hard to recruit for these jobs and poor pay means retaining workers is even harder. It’s a similar situation for the specialized pilots who fly water bombers, perhaps the most visible symbol of firefighting in remote areas. It turns out at least three of Ontario’s nine water bombers are grounded because of a lack of pilots, even as fires rage.

But never mind. Premier Doug Ford says Ontario has ordered six new waterbombers. His party promised $530 million for them back in January as part of its re-election campaign. But Oved unearthed internal government documents that show no sign of money actually being budgeted for that purpose.

The situation with water bombers is worse than it sounds. Even if Ontario ponies up the cash for new planes, it won’t get them for at least five years, probably more. That’s because De Havilland Canada is still constructing a factory near Calgary to build its new .

De Havilland doesn’t expect to produce the first planes until late 2027 or early 2028, and the first 22 have already been sold to European countries that are also struggling with wildfires. So Ontario and Manitoba, which also wants new water bombers from De Havilland, have to get in line. — six fire seasons from now. Even though Premier Wab Kinew calls them “absolutely critical� to protect vulnerable communities.

Six years to get a new water bomber? This is a country that turned out a Lancaster bomber once a day during the Second World War. If the Carney government is looking for “projects of national significance� to put on the fast track, how about manufacturing state-of-the-art water bombers? We could use them to fight our own fires and sell them around the world — a twofer if ever I’ve heard of one.

I know there’s a bigger picture when it comes to fighting wildfires, such as using to improve forest management and head off out-of-control blazes. But the point is we’re not doing nearly enough to respond to a crisis that will only get more acute in the years ahead.

It’s satisfying to tell those Republicans to shut up, but let’s also put our own house in order.