We’d all breathe easier if U.S. lawmakers quit blowing smoke, helped clear the air

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This article was published 08/08/2025 (365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s become something of an annual ritual now. As wildfire smoke drifts south across the Canada-U.S. border, turning skies orange and triggering air-quality alerts in major American cities, Republican lawmakers south of the line scramble for someone to blame.

Lately, they’ve settled on Canada.

The same tired talking points roll out like a script: that Canada isn’t doing enough to manage its forests, that our fires are choking American lungs and that the federal and provincial governments here are somehow asleep at the wheel.

It’s a convenient narrative — and a complete dodge of responsibility.

Wisconsin state Rep. Calvin Callahan joined forces with Republican state lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota this week by filing a formal complaint against Canada to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the International Joint Commission.

The Republican lawmakers are demanding an investigation into Canada’s wildfire management practices.

“If Canada can’t get these wildfires under control, they need to face real consequences,” Callahan said in a news release. “We won’t sit back while our air becomes a health hazard.”

Premier Wab Kinew this week accused the group of pitching a “timber tantrum.”

Before U.S. politicians start wagging fingers north, though, they should take a long, hard look in the mirror. Because the wildfire smoke Americans are breathing isn’t just a Canadian export. It’s a symptom of a much larger problem — one that the United States, particularly under Republican leadership, has done far too little to address: human-caused climate change.

Yes, Canada is experiencing another brutal wildfire season. Tens of thousands of square kilometres of forest have already burned this year. Towns have been evacuated, homes destroyed and firefighters pushed to the brink. And yes, that smoke doesn’t stop at the border. But neither does the blame.

The western and southern United States — including Republican-run states such as Texas and Idaho — have also been scorched by massive wildfires in recent years. California, in particular, has seen some of the most destructive and deadly fire seasons in its history.

According to data from the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center, the number of acres burned annually in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1990s. And like in Canada, the fires are getting hotter, they move faster and they’re harder to control. The reason? Climate change.

This isn’t radical environmental rhetoric — it’s scientific consensus. Hotter, drier conditions caused by a warming climate are fuelling more frequent and intense wildfires across North America, regardless of how the fires were ignited (most are started by humans, accidentally or deliberately).

And here’s where the U.S. — particularly under Republican leadership — has some serious soul-searching to do.

President Donald Trump has cancelled plans to expand wind and solar power and doubled down on oil, gas and coal, falsely claiming renewable energy would “wreck the economy.”

Trump repeatedly calls climate change a “hoax” and mocks the scientific reality even as wildfires devour entire U.S. towns and hurricanes batter coastal cities.

The idea that Canada is single-handedly responsible for the smoke floating into Chicago or New York is not just dishonest — it’s absurd. Both countries are burning. Both countries have forest management issues. Both countries need to adapt.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is the second-largest carbon emitter in the world after China and has some of the highest per-person emissions globally.

Canada has made some attempts to reduce carbon emissions, through carbon pricing, regulations and investments in clean energy. But it’s not nearly enough.

The Republican party, on the other hand, remains mired in climate denialism. Many of its most prominent figures reject basic climate science. They frame environmental regulations as government overreach and vilify green energy as part of a leftist plot to destroy American jobs.

The irony is that American citizens — including many who vote Republican — are suffering the consequences. Wildfire smoke doesn’t care about political affiliation. It’s sending kids to emergency rooms, forcing schools to cancel recess and making life miserable for people with asthma and other respiratory issues.

Instead of blaming Canada, maybe Republican lawmakers should ask why their own country continues to pump more carbon into the atmosphere year after year.

Maybe they should ask why they’re still subsidizing the fossil fuel industry to the tune of billions of dollars while attacking tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles.

Maybe they should stop calling climate change a hoax and start listening to the thousands of scientists — including those in their own country — who have been warning about this for decades.

Climate change is a global issue. No single country can fix it on its own. But leadership matters. And so does honesty.

So the next time Republican politicians in Washington or Texas start pointing fingers at Canada over wildfire smoke, they should remember: the smoke may have crossed the border, but much of the fuel for the fire is being pumped, mined and burned in their own backyard — often with their full support.

It’s time they owned up to that. Because as long as they keep treating climate change like a political game, everyone — on both sides of the border — will keep paying the price.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca