Hazy skies tinged with an eery yellow glow greeted millions of Canadians in Quebec and Ontario again Wednesday as the smoke from hundreds of wildfires continued to cause air quality warnings in Canada's most populated corridor.
In the morning, Environment Canada's air quality health index listed Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., as the worst in Canada, followed closely by the eastern Ontario cities of Kingston, Cornwall and Belleville.
“I want to recognize the air quality statements that have been issued by Environment Canada because of wildfire smoke,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Parliament Hill. Although the majority of the fires are burning in northern and western Quebec, the smoke is affecting much of the Montreal-Windsor corridor, and is causing air quality warnings as far south as Washington, D.C.
The federal government is focused on battling the fires for now, but Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday his government is discussing the idea of creating some kind of national disaster response agency. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre has warned that the high demand on his troops for disaster assistance is straining the military's overall capacity.
In a bizarre twist of fate, on a day when air quality was among the worst the country has ever seen, it was national Clean Air Day in Canada. The amount of land burned surpassed the 40,000 square kilometre mark, making 2023 Canada's fourth-worst fire season on record before the summer has even officially begun.“By all measures, this is perhaps the worst year we have experienced with wildfires,” Blair said.
“It turns out it is smoke, and it's not good. So, I'm really worried, not even about the air condition, but about the forest,” said Perkhidouk.“Forest fires, especially out east in Nova Scotia, that's not a common occurrence,” he said. “So that's definitely something we need to address and look at what's going on in the environment right now.”
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