Canada issues air quality warnings as US wildfire smoke drifts north

British Columbia’s wildfire service issued an alert on Saturday saying smoke from fires in Washington and Oregon was moving north and prompting air-quality warnings for the Kootenay Lake and Cranbrook areas along the province’s southeast border. The agency noted that the smoke originated from more than twenty-two large fires burning in the two U.S. states, driven by a series of lightning strikes.

In the United States, President Donald Trump posted on social media that the country had been “invaded” by dirty air and suggested that the cost of the pollution should be added to tariffs imposed on Canada. The comment came amid broader criticism from Trump and other Republicans of Canada’s wildfire management.

Canada’s prime minister, who met Trump at a recent sporting event, said climate-change mitigation is a shared responsibility for all nations, including the United States. Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to the tariff talk by urging politicians to provide assistance rather than complaints.

Eleanor Olszewski, Canada’s minister of emergency preparedness, said the country had invested C$12 billion in fire prevention and forest sustainability over the past five years, emphasizing that the challenge “knows no borders.”

“Much of this smoke is originating from fires south of the Canada-US border in Washington and Oregon,” the provincial wildfire service said.

“Fighting climate change is the responsibility of all countries, including the United States,” the prime minister told reporters.

“If there’s politicians out there chirping away, well maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support, send help, because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.

“This is a challenge that knows no borders,” Olszewski said in a statement.

The Canadian government reported 843 active wildfires across the country, with 181 classified as out of control and another 532 awaiting suppression actions.