Smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires has exposed tens of millions of people across the Great Lakes region, the upper Midwest, and the eastern United States to hazardous air. During the past week, Toronto’s air pollution ranked among the worst recorded in any major city worldwide.
Fine particulate matter in wildfire smoke can aggravate asthma and cause respiratory symptoms, particularly among young children and elderly people. Long-term exposure is associated with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Ze’ev Gedalof, director of the Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics Research Lab at the University of Guelph, explained the danger bluntly: “PM2.5 is especially dangerous because if it gets deep into your lungs, it just doesn’t come out. There is no safe level of exposure to wildfire smoke.”
Despite the severity of the current wildfire season, 2026 is not Canada’s worst by mid-July. The area burned remained well below the totals recorded in 2023 and 2025. What we cannot ignore is that experts believe the severity of the current fire season, affecting millions of acres of land between both countries, is primed by climate extremes.
In common with the overwhelming majority of climate scientists, experts at the University of California identify the burning of fossil fuels as the principal cause of contemporary climate change. The resulting disruption of Earth’s ecosystems threatens human health, food security, water supplies, biodiversity, and the stability of communities worldwide. The United States Environmental Protection Agency likewise states that no human activity alters the climate more than the burning of fossil fuels.
So how are the federal and provincial Canadian governments of Mark Carney, Danielle Smith, and David Eby responding to this accelerating crisis?
By reducing the public share of value gained by fossil fuel extraction and committing tens of billions of public dollars to subsidies, infrastructure, and incentives that help oil and gas companies increase production.
These governments acknowledge climate science, then pursue policies that directly contradict it. They transfer public wealth to immensely profitable corporations, encourage greater fossil-fuel dependence, and leave ordinary people to bear the mounting costs of fires, floods, droughts, extreme heat, illness, displacement, and environmental destruction.
The first duty of government is to protect human life and the public interest. Leaders who knowingly intensify a threat to both are not merely failing in that duty. They are betraying it.
This is not climate leadership. It is a betrayal of the people governments are supposed to protect—and of the generations who will inherit the consequences.
Wot Me Worry
Categories: Climate Change
in-sights.ca 
COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “coolspring”:
Drill baby drill, it doesn’t matter who you kill baby kill. Unfettered capitalism at it’s finest (worst).
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COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “mikeymikey”:
The dots you’ve connected here are the size of planets at this point, but continue to go ‘unnoticed’ by the public-at-large — either because they are continuously distracted and/or choose to look ‘over there’ at the zombie of normality. And then there are all those who just don’t care. Efforts like yours are finally making headway. 🙏🏼😊🙏🏼
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COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “stillrainingstilldreaming”:
“Prime Minister Mark Carney has been playing up protecting Canada’s energy sovereignty by expanding fossil fuel extraction. But who owns the oil patch?
The reality is that U.S. capital controls the majority of oil and gas companies operating in Canada and that American ownership of the Canadian oil resources is increasing. Recent reporting from Oilprice.com shows that U.S. equity owns 59 percent of Canadian fossil fuel companies, up from 56 percent in 2024. Over the same period, Canadian ownership declined from 37 percent to 34 percent. Is this what Canada Strong looks like?
The situation is even more stark for the four largest Canadian bitumen producers, according to a recent report from the nonprofit group Canadians for Tax Fairness. Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, and Suncor Energy are 73 percent foreign-owned, and 60 percent U.S.-owned, the report shows. Canadian investors control only 27 percent of these “Big Four” sands giants.
These companies raked in $131.6 billion in profits between 2021 and 2024 and paid out almost $80 billion of this windfall to foreign shareholder buyback and dividends. This is considerably more than the $60 billion paid over the same period to the Albertan owners of the resource through provincial bitumen royalties. Since the majority of shareholders are outside Alberta, $49.3 billion of buyback and dividend revenue ended up in the pockets of U.S. investors.”
https://www.desmog.com/2025/12/16/mark-carney-claims-fossil-fuel-expansion-is-canada-strong-but-u-s-investors-get-the-profits/
Much of Canadian business is American owned.
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COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “jds1978::
It’s everyone’s problem, especially if you are a major oil producer. If you own a car or must drive, please start looking into electric for your next purchase. I walk, ride bikes or take public transit when I can. Do your part.
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COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “ExCorpFlunky (ZCT.Life)”:
The US is a big part of Canada’s decisions on fossil fuel. If we took the lead on mitigating the climate crisis, then they would have less reason to develop their fossil fuel resources. We buy 90% of their fossil fuel exports.
Since Trump cut some trade with them, hurting their economy seriously, we’ve put even more economic pressure on them to drill, even if they have to export to Asia. Trump’s talk of a 51st state has played into the hands of conservative politicians in Alberta who talk about seceding to the US in order to gain domestic political leverage to force more liberal politicians to agree to more drilling.
I know some folks want to blame foreigners for stuff in order to deflect from our own responsibility, but clearly the US is a big part of the Canadian fossil fuel problem.
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COMMENT FROM DAILY KOS BY “verasole”:
Fair point, although you could replace « Canadians » in your title with « Americans » or basically any other nationality.
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