As Canada burns, defence spending must go toward fighting wildfires

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author of the 2024 book Canada’s Defence Procurement Woes. Alex Cool-Fergus is a political organizer and climate strategist. As we surveyed the sickly yellow sky in Toronto on Wednesday, coloured by out-of-control wildfires up north, we thought back to the burning season of last year. In August, 2025, wildfire did to the village of Kingston, N.L., what two centuries of wars, economic depression and storms could not: wiped much of it off the map. Facilitated by drought (itself a rarity on an island known for fog and drizzle) the Kingston wildfire was one of six raging simultaneously across the province that summer. The fires taxed people and equipment alike, especially the decades-old provincial water bomber fleet. Typically equipped with five of the famous Canadian designed and built Canadair CL-215 “super scoopers,” provincial authorities were down a plane due to repairs. In fact...