The wildfire smoke that has greatly impacted breathing conditions in Canada and the U.S. has now resulted in more hot air from American President Donald Trump.
Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews yesterday that the wildfires in Canada need to stop.
He said he has a good relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney, but the fires are poisoning U-S air and maybe Canada should pay damages or be hit with more tariffs.
In the spirit of the World Cup we jointly hosted, I would like to offer the following advice. Be careful what you wish for.
You see, smoke and other irritants drift across the border in both directions.
In fact, it was often smog and acid rain caused by U.S. factories in the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s that were hitting Canadian cities and municipalities (including in this area).
This was such a major concern that we signed the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement in 1991 and later added ozone to the deal in 2000.
Instead of threats or seeking damages, we worked jointly to address concerns and add safeguards that have made a large impact on the problem.
With this in mind, I would like to suggest we do the same this time instead of turning to talk of tariffs or other penalties. There is enough foul air right now without adding more during a press conference.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
