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US President Donald Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the World Cup Final on Sunday to get control of wildfires burning across Canada whose smoke has been “poisoning our air” in the US.
“If we can help them, we’ll help them. But maybe they should pay some damages or something,” Trump said.
More than 900 wildfires are raging across Canada, forcing thousands of people to evacuate, destroying homes and burning some 28,000 sq km (11,000 sq m) of land.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday said Trump should offer “his closest allies and friends” support “rather than sit there and threaten tariffs”. The fires – and the smoke – have further fueled tension between Canada and the US.
ReutersTrump’s remarks to Carney when they attended the game on Sunday came after he threatened last week to impose new tariffs on Canada to pay for what Trump described as the “incalculable” cost of the smoke’s impact on the US.
The US president posted the threat on social media on Friday as thick smoke shrouded Washington DC and New York City as it drifted across a large swathe of the eastern US.
Ford told reporters on Monday that the neighbourly squabbles can be maddening.
“I get frustrated just listening to a bunch of rubbish,” he told reporters at a press conference. Canada has helped during natural disasters in the US, he noted, such as Hurricane Helene and wildfires in California.
“Maybe one day you’re going to need our help,” Ford said.
In Ontario, some 1,800 people have been evacuated due to the wildfires, according to Ford.
Whitewater Lake First Nation in Ontario, which consists largely of seasonal camps and has no full-time residents, was burned over the weekend. Infrastructure, community homes, and personal property were all destroyed, Chief Pauline Drake told CBC News on Sunday.
“It was full of beaches, sand beaches, good fishing, good hunting – the wildlife was beautiful. We had eagles that were always there,” she said. “I don’t know how the wildlife is now. That’s very concerning, because they were part of our upbringing there.”
Over the weekend, Ford visited Thunder Bay, Ontario, and promised to “do and spend whatever it takes to protect people from these devastating wildfires”.
In the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the entire city of Kimberley has been placed under an evacuation alert, affecting some 9,000 people.
Carney said in a statement on Sunday that he had mobilized more than 5,000 firefighters and nearly 300 waterbombers, helicopters, and evacuation aircraft “to contain, control, and mitigate the fires”.
“It’s an enormous, complex effort that ultimately depends on dedicated and brave individuals who work relentlessly to keep Canadians safe,” he added.
United StatesSevere weatherWildfiresCanada
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