More Republican lawmakers call out Canada over wildfire smoke

WASHINGTON — More Republican lawmakers are calling out Canada because of wildfires sending smoke billowing across the international border into their states.

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

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Callahan joined other Republican state lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota in filing a formal complaint against Canada to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and the International Joint Commission, a binational organization that resolves disputes on shared water and air quality.

The Republican lawmakers called for an investigation of Canada’s wildfire management practices and for potential remedies under international law.

Callahan joins a chorus of Republican politicians at other levels of government who have been voicing concerns about Canada’s wildfires.

Michigan Rep. Jack Bergman sent a letter to Canadian Sen. Michael MacDonald on Monday calling for stronger forest management policies and more accountability from Canadian officials. Both are members of the Canada—United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.

“It is critical that forest management and wildfire mitigation be treated as a bilateral environmental and public health priority,” the letter said.

Michigan Rep. John James sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney last week saying his constituents are choking on toxic wildfire smoke.

Citing a letter other Republican members of Congress sent to Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman in July, James said that “since then, rather than progress, we have seen escalation.”

James said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s declaration of a second state of emergency in that province “confirmed what many Americans have feared: that Canada is not doing nearly enough to stop these fires before they start.”

The American lawmaker also criticized Kinew’s comments in response to the initial letter.

“This is what turns people off from politics,” Kinew said in July.

“When you have got a group of congresspeople trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we’ve lost lives in our province, there’s no place for that in politics,” the premier added.

“If you can’t get likes on Instagram from your own skills as a politician, don’t bother trying to throw other people under the bus during a state of emergency.”

A husband and wife were killed by a fast-moving wildfire northeast of Winnipeg in May and thousands have been evacuated from their communities.

James said Kinew’s comments dismiss the health impacts the wildfire smoke has on neighbouring states. The Republican said the smoke amounts to a public health emergency “and it is actively damaging the U. S. — Canada relationship.”

The increasing pressure from Republicans comes as the bilateral relationship between the two countries remains tense.

On Aug. 1, U.S. President Donald Trump boosted tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent after a new security and economic agreement failed to materialize ahead of the president’s deadline. The duties do not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

Canada is also being hit with Trump’s steel, aluminum, copper and automobile tariffs.

Natural Resources Canada said in July that wildfires are a global problem caused by the effects of climate change, including prolonged drought.

The president has called climate change a “hoax” and his administration dismissed all of the scientists working on a flagship climate report.

Many Republicans point to the 2023 Canadian wildfire season, which was the worst on record. Fires blazing across the country that year sent thick smoke into the United States and even across the Atlantic Ocean to northern Europe.

Canadian officials have warned that this year’s wildfire season could shape up to be the second-worst on record. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, a non-profit owned and operated by federal, provincial and territorial wildland fire management agencies, said on its website that 744 active wildfires were burning across Canada on Wednesday.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said Tuesday that Canada’s recent wildfires offer a “stark reminder” of the countries’ shared challenges.

In a statement shared by the U.S. Embassy, Hoekstra said the United States and Canada have “a long history” of supporting one another in times of crisis.

“Canadians stood with us during the tragic California wildfires earlier this year, and we are committed to standing with Canada now,” he said.

Wildfires burning across multiple American states, including California, have been sending smoke into nearby communities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press