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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
 
 

Canada does not have a national wildfire strategy, and long-standing calls for one have taken on a renewed urgency after another intense season. Suggestions include creating a national firefighting service and instituting a more proactive approach. This fall, Ottawa is poised to decide on what course to take.

 
 

The Globe and Mail spoke with experts in wildfire management across the country to better understand the ideas being put forth. We’ll get into that today.
 
 
 

First, let’s catch you up on other news.
 
 

 
 
 
  1. Tourism: Jasper is welcoming visitors again by embracing its fire-scarred landscape
  2. Wildfires: Saskatchewan residents who refused to flee wildfire fought flames to save their homes and cabins
  3. Smoke: Western Canada was shrouded in smoke last week as hot, dry weather fuelled new wildfires
  4. Recreation: I discovered top-tier mountain biking in Northern Ontario (just watch out for moose)
  5. Environment: Alberta vows to implement new standards for releasing treated oil sands mine water
  6. Home: Six tips for a climate-friendly garden
  7. Oil and gas: London-based Crown LNG pitches export project for Newfoundland and Labrador
  8. Harvest: India’s boiling climate could make tea more expensive – and reshape global trade
  9. Geography: Royal Canadian Geographical Society acquires new globe highlighting Canada and ignoring Trump edicts
 
 

 
 
 
 
A water bomber aircraft douses a wildfire near Paddy's Pond in Newfoundland in August. Greg Locke/The Globe and Mail
 
 
 
 

For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at the idea of creating a national wildfire agency.
 
 

If the record-breaking fire season of 2023 was a wake-up call for how a warming climate is turning Canada into a tinderbox, this is the year that the country has been forced to come to grips with another pressing issue: How will we be able to continue fighting fires and protecting communities using a patchwork system that has been pushed to its limits?
 
 

Matthew McClearn and Andrea Woo spoke with experts across the country to find an answer.

 
 

Under the current system, provinces and territories are primarily responsible for their own wildfire management. While this system functioned well for decades, there is a growing debate over whether a federal agency is needed.
 
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Provinces are seeing more fires than they can respond to, top emergency officials have called the status quo unsustainable, and firefighters are facing burnout and mounting mental health strains from longer and more challenging deployments, Andrea wrote in the Morning Update newsletter.
 
 

Mike Flannigan, a professor at B.C.’s Thompson Rivers University who specializes in emergency management and fire science, said one of the biggest problems with the existing approach is that it is too reactive.
 
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“What we’re seeing today with these disaster-driven events, they’re increasingly outpacing the capacity of the Canadian emergency management system,” said Matt Godsoe, director of the Emergency Management Strategy Implementation Office at Public Safety Canada, at a July 18 wildfire briefing.
 
 

There have been calls for a federal emergency management agency, a national firefighting service and a shared pool of firefighting resources. Former emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair has mused about a “NORAD-like” joint disaster response with the U.S. and a civil defence force similar to the U.S. National Guard.
 
 

Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski has said a more proactive approach to wildfire seasons could include a new federal disaster response agency and shared national firefighting resources, such as water bombers.
 
 

Ottawa is now formally examining all the options, with a decision expected late this fall.