Geoff Russ: Yes, the B.C. wildfires should be politicized

One of the laziest tropes about governance is that tragedies should not be politicized. Generally speaking, the ones who relay that silly maxim are the ones who must reckon with the tragedy and don’t want the headache or their rightful share of the blame.

There is no question that lightning strikes are not partisan occurrences. They can strike at any time and produce unpredictable effects, such as sparking a wildfire in the hinterland of British Columbia.

However, the choice not to expand airborne firefighting capacity, the treatment of wildfire fuels, and post-fire reconstruction are all political choices. If the Okanagan is going to burn, taking beloved homes and lives with it, there is responsibility that must be assigned. In fact, accountability in these situations is the decent thing.

The 2026 wildfire season in B.C. has been horrific, to put it mildly. By Tuesday, there were 904 fires burning, and nearly 400,000 hectares had burned, which is roughly the same size as the American state of Rhode Island. The especially dreadful Bald Range fire near Summerland has burned 17,800 hectares and forced roughly 20,000 people to flee their homes. An 80-year-old woman who failed to escape has been identified as the first casualty.

A state of emergency is in effect in B.C., having been declared on Aug. 8. That was four days after Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene said that such extraordinary tools were not yet justified. Conditions and political calculations have apparently flipped with equally terrifying and infuriating speed. It was precisely this volatility and danger that the B.C. NDP government claimed it was preparing for months ago.

Back in March, the province assured British Columbians that it was “ready” for the wildfire season, boasting more than 600 full-time positions, 1,300 firefighters, 28 airtankers, and more. This is not an insignificant arsenal, and absolutely nobody should be placing a single shred of blame on the firefighters themselves, whether they are local or flown in from Mexico as reinforcements. We are all deeply grateful to all of them.

Now, as for the government, if only its preparations could have been made adequate through the bravado of a press release. The only way to assess the province’s capacity for combating wildfires is by examining the results.

Considering the mass evacuations, international assistance, and federal aid that had to be requested once the fires were underway, it is clear that the NDP fell short of its own expectations.

Not every hill, patch of grassland, and knoll can be manned by a crew. Nor can the government shield the surface of the Earth from electrical storms or identify every lunatic firebug who drops a lit match. Still, the NDP has been in office for nine years and has yet to produce a transformative wildfire response strategy, despite escalating disasters throughout its tenure.

Changes in the climate, wind patterns, and snowfall can help us understand why the fires keep getting worse, but they do not explain the government’s ongoing preference for improvisation.

In 2026, the B.C. NDP government’s forward budgeting shows that funding for fire preparedness is set to be cut by 2028–29, as is funding for fire management. Despite the destruction of the Fraser Canyon town of Lytton and the solidification of the nickname “Smokanagan” amid the seemingly endless clouds of smoke that blanket B.C.’s wine country, it is clear that a modernized wildfire response is not on the books.

The B.C. NDP is running a $13.3 billion deficit, with funds being directed toward what the government deems more important to its political success and hold on power. These include boutique grants, bureaucratic experiments, ideological rebranding of institutions, and all the sleazy sinecures that come with modern left-wing governance. What about larger permanent crews, advanced nighttime operations, aggressive fuel reduction, or enhanced aerial capacity?

Why is the protection of life and property less important than the political baubles the government dangles before itself and its allies?

The private sector is, in fact, outdoing the provincial government. Coulson, a company in Port Alberni that specializes in firefighting, has just conditionally purchased 10 retired Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130H Hercules aircraft and plans to convert them for aerial firefighting. While the deal is not yet final, it is the sort of bet that the provincial government should have emulated long ago. Coulson is planning for the long term while the province is more concerned with damage control.

Has Lytton been forgotten? A fire in 2021 destroyed almost the entire village, killing two people, and the community has yet to be rebuilt. A report from B.C. Premier David Eby’s auditor general placed blame on the tiny municipality for having failed to procure an engineer and for not sufficiently partnering with the local First Nations. A town reduced to ash was supposed to become its own emergency ministry, reconstruction authority, and secretariat for local Indigenous relations.

Browbeating a shattered village for failing to uphold the NDP’s standard of hyper-ideological Indigenous engagement is a scandal. Can Lytton perhaps be forgiven for failing to perform every little procedural ritual that the province demands of it?

However, the NDP cannot pass the blame for the Bald Range fire down to Lytton, eastward to Ottawa, or backward to long-dead B.C. Liberal governments. The NDP has held power since 2017, receiving repeated warnings with every successive fire season. It has no more excuses for failing to modernize B.C.’s wildfire strategy. Flames are not partisan, but the NDP certainly is, as are its decisions within a democratic system.

British Columbians should politicize these wildfires because politicians bear responsibility for preventable failures. David Eby’s government should stop pretending that it did everything possible and own up to the fact that it did not do enough. Then, finally, it might credibly claim to have shown some leadership.

National Post