Ontario officials call Trump's Canada wildfire comments 'disappointing' during press conference

[0:00] well good morning everyone i'm back here this morning with ministers harris and dunlop [0:06] to provide another update on the fire situation and developments that have taken place over the [0:12] weekend we know that the fire is expanding from 650 000 hectares up to 735 000 hectares [0:20] so it's moving quickly and as of this morning there are a total of 190 wildland fires across [0:27] ontario 56 of those are still considered not under control 112 are being observed and six [0:37] are being held and 16 are under control we have 155 fire crews and approximately 80 water bombers [0:45] and helicopters remain in operation across the north with roughly 40 additional support aircraft [0:51] ready to assist 13 communities have been evacuated or are still in the process of evacuating [1:00] with a decision still pending on one additional community through ontario corps and partner [1:06] organizations we're supporting evacuees in municipalities across the province with [1:12] increased 211 call center at capacity by distributing hygiene kits medical supplies and 95 masks and food [1:21] pallets and by having volunteers on standby and ready to assist where they needed most we're also [1:29] deploying air purifiers air scrubbers and replacement filters to support impacted communities on saturday [1:37] minister dunlop issued an order expanding access to the alert ready system so that municipalities and [1:43] first nations can request that emergency messages be delivered directly to their communities through [1:49] television radio and mobile devices on saturday as in thunder bay meeting the volunteers emergency [1:57] response staff and local leaders to better understand exactly what they need and how we can support [2:04] them as i've said from the beginning we will not spare a penny fighting these fires and keeping people safe [2:11] we've spent nearly 1.5 billion dollars on wildland firefighting since we took office doubling the base budget [2:18] from 70 million in 2018 to 150 million today and we're investing another 650 million to add six new water bombers [2:29] and five new helicopters to our fleet every year we spend whatever it takes to deal with the wildland fires [2:37] we've hired nearly 170 permanent positions over the last two years and increased compensation for pilots and [2:44] firefighters so that we can continue to hire and retain staff ahead of fire season i want to express my gratitude [2:53] to the incredible team i met in thunder bay and until you see the operations you you can't understand the [3:00] whole scope of it and how hard they're they're working day in and day out 24 hours a day and the volunteers and [3:08] emergency response workers across the province including fire rangers air crews local and provincial [3:15] police and all other support staff from here in ontario and across canada that are supporting evacuees [3:23] and helping get these fires under control that includes all the staff at the ministry of natural resources [3:29] the ministry of emergency preparedness and response and the staff here at the emergency provincial i'm sorry [3:36] provincial emergency operation center ontario owes them a huge debt of gratitude and we will continue [3:43] working night and day to support them and get them the resources they need i want to thank everyone [3:49] and may god bless the people of ontario thank you we will now take questions from the media media can [3:54] come to the microphone and state their name and outlet just a reminder it's one question and one follow-up [3:59] first question good morning premier mark mccadister from city news we now know that some of the evacuations [4:10] go beyond just thunder bay that some people are actually being brought into toronto as well just [4:15] looking for more information in terms of the logistics involved in that what kind of arrangements have [4:21] been made and for how long i'll give a quick answer then i'll pass it over to my minister [4:27] you know what i understand what i what i saw they were bringing people in uh on dash eights because they [4:32] can land on dirt runways and then they get transferred over the larger planes and and then they determine if [4:38] they're going to toronto niagara falls or sudbury or all the other host areas canara and so on so [4:43] forth but i'll pass it over to the minister thank you premier and uh as of now we've coordinated 13 [4:51] evacuations so they're in host cities like thunder bay capis casing uh sudbury barry and then toronto [4:58] has put their hand up as well as melissa niagara falls so a lot of coordination in those efforts as [5:03] you can uh you would understand and as the premier said they're flying typically into thunder bay um or [5:09] to red lake as a hub and then from there going out to those host communities so the folks at our [5:14] provincial emergency operation center are coordinating calls um every day with the different communities [5:19] who are are impacted and who are um evacuating we do have some that are self-evacuating as well so [5:25] we're working very diligently with those uh those communities but you know we have to look at [5:30] things such as the healthcare capacity in the areas hotel capacity and the wraparound services as well [5:36] so we're working closely with the host communities to ensure that those services are provided once an [5:40] organization or which a community is coming into a host city we mentioned ontario core is also helping [5:46] so we have ontario 211 is acting as an information line for non-emergency calls we have feed ontario [5:53] and the ontario federation of digit friendship centers who are also working at deploying food [5:59] emergency food to those communities global medic we delivered actually n95 masks to thunder bay when [6:05] we were up last week they're doing hygiene kits red cross is setting up the evacuation center for us [6:10] in thunder bay that's for communities like collins first nation and armstrong who are unincorporated [6:17] communities so they have a place to go as well so lots of coordination around behind the scenes but [6:22] you know ensuring that safety is the priority of uh those evacuees thank you a second question for [6:28] the premier uh we've heard from a number of first nations communities and the chiefs as well we do [6:34] know that chief fiddler at this point has called for more coordination between the province and the [6:40] federal government could you elaborate on what exactly is being done on that point well i'll be meeting [6:45] uh the prime minister in the next day or so i'll be heading over to pei to meet the rest of the [6:49] premiers uh one of the topics are going to be a national fire strategy we need the support from [6:54] the federal government uh they've been very good they've given us two dash eight uh planes to spray [7:00] the fire retardant down but we need a large national fire strategy we seem to be going through this every [7:07] single year if not uh ourselves and out manitoba if you remember last year and a little bit in [7:13] saskatchewan and alberta and bc and quebec uh right now in nova scotia so right across the the country [7:20] in fire season unfortunately they have lightning hits and some some other areas that may uh start a [7:26] fire but mostly lightning hits and uh it sounds like uh the minister wants to have a few words there [7:34] actually i'm gonna add to that i've been speaking with uh chief fiddler where on text message i had a [7:38] call with him last week we actually have a call this afternoon to follow up on some of the items so we've [7:41] had great coordination with him as well and i'll pass it on to mr harris too i i just want to add that [7:48] there's there's year-round coordination with first nations and communities across uh obviously northern [7:54] ontario but around ontario when it comes to emergency management it's something that we [7:59] take very seriously we really encourage all uh communities especially in the north to have [8:04] emergency management plans and and work with us with mnr work with the ministry of emergency [8:11] preparedness and response to develop those so that if situations arise like what we've seen where [8:16] there's been intense fire activity over the last week uh if if the mnr isn't available to to directly [8:22] respond in the moment that you've got a plan to be able to self-evacuate so we're working with those [8:27] communities constantly i have spoken with many many first nations leaders over the last uh almost week [8:34] now uh really this all kind of kicked off monday tuesday uh last week so there's a lot of coordination that [8:40] happens and i just want to make sure that we are again getting the right information out there it's [8:45] extremely important uh we need to leverage uh you folks to be able to do that so really appreciate uh [8:52] also the the coordination and help that we've seen from the media over the last week as well i think that [8:56] i'd like to thank you for that and highlight that it's been really really great to be able to get [8:59] those messages out there it's very important thank you catherine morace from radio canada i was [9:06] wondering if you could update us on the latest number of evacuees it was over 1800 this morning [9:13] i think at one time it was over 2000 yesterday then a couple went back to the community i was talking [9:18] to chief sunny from maryland they evacuated self evacuated and then they uh they jumped back into their [9:26] cars and their buses and they went back into the community but maybe you have another number that's the [9:32] numbers i have nope that's actually correct thank you thank you and finally premier yesterday once [9:36] again donald trump called on canada to better manage their forest he doesn't want so much smoke to go to [9:41] the us uh he threatens to put new terrorists on canada if there's more wildfires what do you respond to [9:48] that well it's disappointing to say the least and a message to president trump is if he actually does [9:54] his due diligence uh one of the largest fires started from minnesota and that's not a knock against [9:59] minnesota because governor waltz and i have an incredible relationship he called me up and said [10:05] there's ymca campers stuck in the middle of lake we uh sent our opp out there as as well the canadian [10:14] armed forces to rescue these campers he was very very grateful but maybe if he got rid of the tariffs [10:20] and on softwood lumber it might make a difference until we can harvest uh these these areas and ship [10:26] them down i gotta remind president trump that 33 of the lumber and we have better quality lumber here [10:32] in canada comes from canada to build their homes and he's wondering why the house uh housing costs of [10:38] building is going up because he's putting tariffs on his number one trading partner again maybe president [10:44] trump would offer his closest allies and friends some support rather than sit there and threaten tariffs [10:50] when when uh you know hurricane helena went went a little wild down in the carolinas and georgia last [10:57] year who were the first to step up we directed over 50 trucks hydro linesmen to go down there with a [11:06] hundred a hundred different linesmen going down there to support our closest neighbors that's what we do [11:13] when they had the inferno uh wild land fires out in california who was first there we were there we [11:19] sent two water bombers standby right ready to go in there we sent them out west until they could be [11:26] deployed immediately and we couldn't get the water in the plains because they had a problem [11:31] you gotta remind president trump that there's 3.3.9 million acres burning in the united states [11:38] right now and if we had resources we would send them down to our closest friends and allies [11:44] so you know something rather than criticize and threaten uh canada your closest friends maybe one [11:50] day you're gonna need our help like you did last year and we deployed the people i get frustrated uh [11:56] just listening these that bunch of rubbish and finally last question um when you talk about the alert [12:05] system that was changed over the weekend can you explain us exactly what changed and how that's gonna [12:10] help uh communities deal with wildfires well the alert ready system was already available to [12:17] communities so they have used it in the past for things like a boil water advisory we use the system [12:22] twice last year it's just reminding municipalities and first nation communities this is another tool in [12:28] the toolbox that they can use we've used the alert ready system five times this year for wildland fires [12:34] and we just want to encourage them and remind them that this system is here the um mayors uh chiefs [12:41] community emergency management coordinators as well as fire chiefs have access to contact us here at [12:47] the provincial emergency operations center 24 7 and to that those messages can get out within 20 minutes [12:54] so just another tool in the toolbox and just reminding our partners that to please contact us so we can get [12:59] that information out to communities uh quickly going back to president trump because he got me on a roll [13:06] right now with all the assets the us has he's sitting there complaining why don't you send up some [13:12] water bombers why don't you start helping us like we would help you in a heartbeat and we we looked on uh [13:18] the national data sheet down there and i had to double check it because i find it astounding that they [13:23] said over 40 000 fires that that's ridiculous um and i double checked if there was extra you know extra zeros [13:30] in there but anyways you should support your neighbors that's my message to the president [13:35] sorry you go on a little rant but it drives me crazy hi i'm sean bug globe and mail ontario [13:44] currently has about 150 firefighting crews about 40 short of the historical complement of 190 and 100 [13:50] fewer than the number recommended by the union why are they short-staffed well i'm going to answer [13:55] this you know i talked to greg horton head of the firefighters association the guy's an absolute champion [14:02] we're in the the midst of uh training our local firefighters to be able to go up into the wildland [14:10] fires and that's that's what we're doing but isn't it amazing that not one fire chief not the presidents [14:18] of the association uh have ever criticized us they said the total opposite there's no other government in [14:25] the history of ontario that has supported firefighters like our government has and i encourage you to call [14:32] every chief in the province call the the president of the firefighters association and ask them how much [14:39] we've supported our firefighters he said it's unprecedented but we're going to continue uh cross [14:46] training our firefighters so we can deploy firefighters from toronto and the gta and and out in [14:53] ottawa and train them so they'll be able to be uh deployed and i'd like to thank thank uh matt pegg [15:00] former toronto uh fire chief uh now the the deputy minister so uh matt i don't want to bring you into [15:07] this but do you have any comments you're good you want to say a few words yeah sure okay thanks premier [15:14] hi everyone uh i'll just say this there there is an extraordinary amount of collaboration that happens [15:20] on a minute-to-minute and day-to-day basis across the ontario public service and obviously [15:25] my entry into the ops is relatively new but uh they're literally i'm here today with with one [15:30] of my colleagues deputy minister vander doom there is not a day that goes by where our two ministries [15:37] and the the entire network across the ontario public service is working together in a proactive [15:43] collaborative manner and as as you heard the premier said there is a lot of very proactive thinking in [15:48] place there is a lot of work being done about uh what is going well today but also what are the [15:53] opportunities we have to expand that in the future and those are conversations that are very active at [15:58] the staff and officials level obviously with our elected leaders who uh who provide us a direction so [16:04] i'm very encouraged what happens uh you've heard the minister speak and the premier speak what is [16:08] happening in the provincial emergency operation center what is happening in every uh in every firefighting [16:14] base across m and r is inspiring frankly and uh it's it's a privilege and an honor to to serve here [16:21] now and to watch all of that and to be a part of uh the response to what is truly a demanding and [16:26] challenging event thank you sir how many years do you serve as uh on the fire department in toronto [16:31] uh just over 32 years of service in the in in the fire service sir thank you just just on the topic [16:39] of staff so uh you know we talk about sort of 155 156 crews just to put that into context um that's [16:46] well over 700 people so there's usually about four to five people on a crew um so it it seems like a bit [16:53] of a small number but we're talking about almost a thousand fire rangers these are the folks who actually [16:57] get out there and are on the front lines running hose through the bush fighting those fires setting [17:02] up sprinklers around uh around what we call values to protect them so it's a pretty substantial number [17:07] when you actually look at it um and we've also added over 100 people over the last year as well so um [17:14] we're doing a lot um we've looked at our compensation model as well which um which we've which we've changed [17:20] a little bit over the last last year and we've actually been able to retain um retain the overwhelming [17:26] majority of our crew leaders so those are the folks who have a little bit more experience maybe [17:30] they've been on the service for a few years and they're the people who are sort of overseeing that [17:34] that crew unit so there's there's a lot going on and again i i keep saying this and reiterating it [17:39] making sure that we have the most pertinent up-to-date truthful information being portrayed to the [17:46] public is extremely important so i know you probably have a follow-up we're happy here thank you [17:51] minister dunlap wrote in a letter saturday that ontario is expanding access to the national alert ready [17:57] system her office and herself have later now said that it was only a message to reinforce [18:01] and expand awareness of how the existing system works what do you say to criticism that your [18:05] government is framing past changes as new help well as we said it's it's to reiterate this tool [18:13] in the toolbox for our municipalities um i gave the example of it being used five times this year but [18:19] what we took from thunder bay the other day when we met with some of the mnr staff and that the premier [18:23] said to me what is it we can be doing to help you what's the message you need where do you need help [18:26] and one of the things was ensuring that people know the alert ready system is there and so that's [18:31] what we're doing is making sure that our municipalities our first nation leaders our fire chiefs our community [18:36] emergency management coordinators can use that service because obviously it hasn't been being [18:41] used enough and we want to ensure that adequate information is getting out to our communities and [18:45] to members quickly hi tini as danny with the trillium just going back to the staffing issue [18:53] given that these wildfires appear to become they're more frequent they're more intense [18:57] why not move ontario to a year-round model where you have permanent staff as opposed to relying on [19:04] seasonal staff and kind of catching up after the fact i'll be before i pass to the minister as he said [19:09] we hired 100 last year another 68 this year so we're ramping it up but over to you minister yeah i think [19:18] it's a good question something we've talked about for years now um we actually just reclassified again [19:24] our our crew leaders some of those senior leadership as full-time year-round staff now which was very [19:28] important um when we look at uh sort of we'll just say that the general sort of wildland firefighter a [19:34] lot of them are students they go to school through the winter um there's there's a lot of folks who [19:38] also have other things that they do um i don't want to say on the side but it's it's not it's not as easy as [19:45] just saying we're going to be a full-time force because the the folks who are actually out there [19:49] doing the work um are often doing some other things during the sort of the off season if you [19:53] want to call it that so what we've tried to do is look at those people in those senior leadership [19:57] positions make sure that we're able to retain those staff they're extremely extremely important [20:01] to us uh we heard from them that that was that was a big piece uh so we've been able to do that we [20:05] did that last year so it's a lot of good things happening on that front and uh premier switching gears [20:12] um uh i wanted to ask about minister cho or former minister um um you know he kind of misled the [20:20] public when he said that he expensed those hotels because of late night sittings because he expensed [20:26] them during months where there were no late night sitting so is it acceptable to you that a member [20:30] a caucus member is is lying to the public it's unacceptable on spending taxpayers money he's no [20:38] longer a minister but stan has paid every single penny back as everyone will to the taxpayers and [20:44] it's already been paid back but what about the fact that he's misleading the public again it's unacceptable [20:49] the to spend money of the taxpayers we're in my opinion shouldn't have been spent hi premier [20:57] colin de mello from global news uh i'm here to ask as well about stancho but less about taxpayers more [21:01] about the riding association and donors to the pc party over the last three years uh as mpp for [21:07] willowdale stancho has billed a hundred thousand dollars for uh meals that includes dinners at [21:12] steakhouses lobster restaurants a lot of joints in yorkville he's charged airline tickets outside [21:17] of the riding hotel stays at the fairmont chateau laurier and even the cost of renting a vehicle from [21:22] a limousine company question you uh premier what is the expectation for a donor to the ontario [21:28] progressive conservative party is are they to expect that their money will be spent fueling the lavish [21:34] lifestyle of an mpp no again it's totally unacceptable what stan has done he's paid back [21:40] every single penny and uh moving forward uh the board of internal economy uh they're getting rid of [21:47] that offer of staying in the city uh in hotels but uh again he's paid back every single penny [21:55] like every single other person uh will be doing okay you're obviously speaking about the hotel charges [22:00] charged to taxpayers anything i'm talking about the donors i don't think he's repaid about a hundred [22:05] thousand plus of money taken from the willowdale riding association is sorry you were going to say no [22:12] no go ahead is he is he going to remain a member of your caucus is this acceptable within your caucus to [22:17] to build donors hundreds of thousands of dollars for meals flights and hotel rooms everything is [22:24] unacceptable if you don't put it to the right uh place so it's totally unacceptable the riding [22:32] association is the right place then no again uh colin it's unacceptable and he's no longer a minister [22:39] in our government richard southern 680 news radio as you say minister cho did resign over the 16 000 in [22:45] hotel expenses but many other of your caucus members premiers spent even more nina tangri 19 000 and [22:51] above them all hardeep gerwal 29 000 in hotel expenses despite the fact that he's within commuting [22:57] distance my question premier if you said stancho did the right thing in resigning should mr gerwal [23:03] resign as parliamentary assistant and what consequences should he face sir well they're all paying it back [23:08] and uh it's unacceptable if you guys think for a second i'm happy about this you're wrong it's [23:14] unacceptable they're all paying it back simple as that there may be ontarians i'm sure premier that [23:20] will look at the 120 000 in hotel expenses and not see a huge difference between that and the [23:25] almost 200 000 you charge taxpayers for costs related to your private jet which you quickly sold [23:31] my question is if if you're directing your caucus members to pay back the hotel money will you pay back [23:36] the money for your private jet well again uh i i i love your your questions um can i tell you something [23:45] when i travel when i traveled out to utah when i travel to south carolina guess where i ate i ate at [23:51] mcdonald's i pay out of my own pocket i've never ever charged the taxpayers i'm the only premier in the [23:57] history of this province that has a zero expense account i'm going to repeat that a zero expense account [24:06] so i don't expect people to have a zero expense account even in the opposition when they used to fly [24:10] all over the world spending hundreds of thousands of dollars going over to asia and so on so forth [24:16] i find it pretty ironic and hypocritical from the opposition politicizing it i have zero zero time [24:24] for anyone that doesn't respect the taxpayers money and we're going to continue doing it but maybe what [24:29] you should do is look into my expenses and find out that i have zero expenses the only premier in the [24:37] history of this province and yes i'm the only premier in the history of the province that didn't [24:42] fly around in government uh planes i flew commercial and yes i have to charter some too so i respect the [24:50] taxpayers simple as that but again i respect it next question um good morning alissa mendez with the [25:00] canadian press our reporter who's in thunder bay visited the evacuee uh reception center at the fort [25:07] williams garden area and was told that nobody has registered yet we've also been told that there [25:12] was a shortage of hotel rooms in thunder bay is this a case of people not being aware about the [25:17] reception center or are more evacuees just being diverted well before before i passed the minister [25:23] we saw it firsthand uh they had over 150 beds cots hygiene packages food uh to feed them towels showers [25:32] uh everything in the in the community center so we're communicating communicating it to the first [25:38] nations keep in mind roughly about 1800 evacuees have come uh out of their first nations communities [25:46] and they're being spread out right across right across the uh province until there's not pressure on [25:51] one area but there's plenty of room there's plenty of beds in thunder bay and in toronto in niagara falls [25:58] in kenora red lake and so on so forth sudbury and sault st marie um is ontario concerned that that [26:07] communication is not enough if people aren't registering well go ahead um so we were actually [26:15] at the evacuation center on saturday and met with some of the ontario core partners who were there [26:19] setting it up at that time nobody had registered but it was set up as an evacuation center for [26:24] the unincorporated community such as collins first nation and armstrong and so you know it's there [26:30] to serve those needs i think a lot of people from those communities seek shelter with family and [26:35] relatives etc they were smaller areas but it's there for that um intent or for anyone else if the [26:41] if we have flights coming in through thunder bay that aren't maybe able to get out when they need to [26:45] it's it's kind of a backup for those folks as well but the that's why we set up 211 as well to ensure [26:51] that we're getting that information out so that anybody can use that non-emergency number to get [26:55] information about things like the evacuation center what may be going on in their communities but [27:00] you know we're working closely with all of our host communities as we move forward because it's [27:04] an ongoing situation so we may have 13 evacuated communities right now but it's it is ongoing so [27:10] we need to be prepared for worst care scenarios and getting people into safe locations i can tell you [27:17] we saw it firsthand it is very very organized as soon as they get off the plane plane they go into the [27:23] building they get registered they get registered no matter if it's a male a female young kids and we [27:30] register everyone to make sure that they have a spot and a roof over their heads and food in their [27:37] stomach so i want to thank the people over in thunder bay i want to thank the the host cities that are [27:43] bringing people in and keeping them in the hotel rooms and feeding them and taking care of them [27:49] uh that's that's pretty remarkable and it's well well organized extremely well organized this will be [27:55] the last reporter premier sean jefferson cbc another question about the hotel expenses sir uh the um [28:07] minister cho stepped down it seems on his own accord uh based on a judgment that the spending wasn't [28:13] appropriate have you asked the cabinet ministers on that list who've who've also spent that money [28:19] to step down and do you need to frankly shuffle your cabinet at this point well staying stepped [28:25] down and uh he did the right thing and he paid everything back so we're going to make sure that [28:32] we we put a microscope under under this and it won't happen again and i apologize for it even [28:38] happening in the first place it's very frustrating to say that say the least but thank you for the [28:43] question premier uh also just more broadly when it comes to this type of spending in this rule with [28:49] the board of internal economy is this not a natural side effect of the government sitting fewer days [28:56] and longer hours into the night where it puts mpps specifically in your caucus in a position where [29:02] they felt that they could spend this money taxpayer money to stay in these hotels should you not be [29:08] frankly lengthening the calendar and sitting longer oh the board of internal economy is made up of [29:13] uh all parties so any decision gets approved by all parties and uh again uh we're going to watch every [29:22] single every single penny this concludes today's press conference thank you everyone appreciate it thank you [29:28] well my message to wolf blitzer and cnn uh i'll probably repeat what i said right here it's unacceptable [29:39] that uh president trump still wants to tariff us uh and rather than help us that's that's the message [29:46] isn't it ironic out of 50 states i only had governor healy uh ask hey how's it going from massachusetts [29:54] and can i help you with anything and rather than sit there and complain uh why don't why don't we [30:00] see some help from president trump and uh send up some water bombers send up some wildland firefighters [30:07] but then again uh they have thousands of fires going in the u.s right now but you don't hear canada ever [30:12] complain about uh smoke going from let's say california at the time into british columbia or over [30:19] in alberta we're doing everything we can it's an act of mother nature it happens it happens around the [30:24] world as as we've seen around the world no matter if it's france or ireland or other places around the [30:29] world uh in australia and uh we just uh believe in supporting our neighbors and it's unfortunate that [30:37] the president doesn't believe in supporting our neighbors but folks that's not going to deter us [30:43] we know the american people love canadians canadians love americans i differentiate between [30:47] the american people and the great governors and the great governors and the great governors versus [30:51] president trump thank you