Canada’s new liberal prime minister has given the lie to the notion that a green capitalism is possible with fossil-fuel friendly policies as the climate crisis intensifies, explains John Clarke 

Though we are still well short of the official start of summer, large parts of Canada are already being impacted by devastating wildfires. On 2 June, the CBC reported that 17,000 people in eleven communities were subject to mandatory evacuation orders in the province of Manitoba alone. 

George Fontaine, the mayor of Flin Flon, stated that ‘I’ve been expecting to hear catastrophic news, and so the fact that I’ve not heard that has really made me feel a whole lot better. But we’re still in the same situation. It’s a time bomb.’ None of the town’s structures had been burned at the time of the report but the entire population of 5,000 had been evacuated. 

Out of control 

The fire threatening Flin Flon covered an area of 40,000 hectares and was ‘still listed by the province as out of control.’ A 200-person fire crew was attempting to save the town, using ‘two heavy helitankers that can carry massive bags of water, three smaller helicopter buckets, three water bombers and 19 pumper trucks.’ Fontaine grimly noted that, ‘We have everything that can be thrown at it that’s available. Provincially, they are stretched so thin.’ 

The pressure on available fire-fighting capacity flowed from a situation where ‘there were 25 active wildfires in Manitoba. There has been a total of 106 already this season, far above the province’s 20-year annual average of 84 at this time of year.’  

In neighbouring Saskatchewan, early wildfires are also happening on an intensified scale. ‘As of 30 May, there have been 207 wildfires this year, which is 40 more than last year at the same time, [including] the 300,000-hectare Shoe Fire in northern Saskatchewan.’  

Colin Laroque, head of soil science and professor at the University of Saskatchewan, noted the highly combustible condition of the province’s forests. ‘Saskatchewan’s forest and grasses were mainly brown from the dry weather and made great fuel for grass fires,’ he pointed out. Moreover, ‘In Northern Canada … we’re experiencing more than three times what the global average is in terms of temperature change.’ 

Less extensive but still very significant fires are burning in northern Ontario, with some of them out of control and parts of Alberta are also being impacted. In Northern British Columbia, one fire caused evacuation orders to be issued after it quadrupled in size. 

The vast quantities of smoke given off by the fires are already having an impact on major urban populations. ABC News has reported that, as of 2 June, ‘there (were) 181 active wildfires burning in Canada, with 92 of these considered to be ‘out of control’. In this situation, ‘the smoke is bringing potentially dangerous air quality conditions to parts of the northern United States.’ 

The evidence that wildfire seasons in Canada are becoming more destructive and that this is attributable to climate change can no longer be seriously disputed. A fact sheet issued by the Canadian Climate Institute notes that accelerating ‘climate change, largely from the burning of fossil fuels, makes wildfires bigger, hotter, and more frequent. With Canada warming twice as fast as the global average, and home to more than a quarter of the world’s boreal forests, the country is experiencing this consequence of global heating firsthand.’ 

The sheet shows that wildfire ‘activity is increasingly frequent across Canada’ and that fire ‘season is starting earlier, is lasting longer, and is harder to contain.’ Moreover, elevated ‘wildfire risk means that, whatever the cause, fires catch, spread, and get out of control much more easily.’ 

Clearly, Canada’s wildfires are becoming ever more destructive and toxic but they are only one dreadful element of an intensifying climate disaster that threatens life on this planet. Yet, even the most catastrophic climate impacts and the starkest evidence of the need to curb carbon emissions aren’t leading to effective climate action by those in political power. Indeed, as I pointed out in an earlier column for Counterfire, the coming to power of the second Trump administration has led a reduced reliance on forms of ‘greenwashing’ deception and a return to obdurate climate denialism. 

Destructive projects 

As Canada’s forests burn, governments at the provincial and federal level are preoccupied with dealing with the crisis that Trump’s trade war has unleashed. The focus is on boosting ‘competitiveness’ and diversifying trade, in order to withstand the shocks generated by the US turn to protectionism. In this regard, a huge emphasis is being placed on developing the extractive industries and increasing oil and gas exports, regardless of the climate and other environmental impacts. 

Ontario’s Conservative government is in the process of passing Bill 5 into law. This is a direct response to Trump’s tariffs and it features the establishment of ‘special economic zones’, where, as Amnesty International has explained, ‘critical provincial laws, including those protecting endangered species, clean water, and consultation with Indigenous Nations, may be suspended to fast-track development.’ 

The federal Liberal government of Mark Carney, casting its ‘progressive’ credentials to the winds, is taking very much the same approach as the Ontario Conservatives. On 1 June, as CTV News explains, Carney ‘sat down with oil and gas executives in Calgary Sunday to discuss partnerships and to get their input for his plans to make Canada an energy superpower.’ He ‘held a closed-door roundtable with more than two dozen members of the energy sector.’  

As Toronto Today reports, Carney told media while he was in Calgary that he favours ‘a shift in “mindset” to get major projects off the ground quicker by bringing in a “single window” of approval.’ He stated that at ‘the moment, when we’re thinking about new projects, too often the immediate question is “Why?” Instead, we need to ask ourselves “How, how do we get it done?”.’ 

As he set out his plan to promote environmentally destructive projects on a massive scale, Carney pathetically pledged to ‘focus on making it as clean as possible’. He also held a meeting the next day with the provincial premiers in Saskatoon to promote his energy superpower theme and to incorporate their destructive plans into his agenda. 

‘We need to move on these nation-building projects. So, projects that bring Canada together, projects that diversify our economy, projects that help us export to new markets and really move this economy forward,’ Carney stated before meeting with his provincial counterparts. 

In 2014, when he was governor of the Bank of England, Carney told a gathering of the Bank of International Settlements that the brand of ‘inclusive capitalism’ that he advocated ‘is fundamentally about delivering a basic social contract comprised of relative equality of outcomes; equality of opportunity; and fairness across generations.’ He also asserted that ‘unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself.’ 

In 2021, in his role as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, Carney made similar assertions on how enlightened self-interest should lead capitalists to take effective action to deal with the climate crisis. He claimed that major companies were accepting the need to transition to renewable energy and eliminate carbon emissions, grandly proclaiming that this ‘is a market that is really being driven by corporate ambition and commitment to net zero.’  

The hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty of Carney’s greener inclusive capitalism are now fully exposed. As Canada’s prime minister, he presides over a trade crisis that threatens the vital interests of the country’s major companies. In his efforts to deal with that crisis, he is more than ready to make common cause with climate-denying right-wing politicians so as to fast-track oil and gas projects that will worsen global heating with appalling results. 

Canada’s 2025 wildfire season, though it is only just getting underway, is already another step towards climate disaster. Ironically and tragically, the fires burn out of control as the political decision makers conspire to make the situation even more catastrophic. No solutions will come from Mark Carney and his accomplices. Only massive and powerful action by a united movement for climate justice can make a difference in this situation and the present Canadian wildfires drive this home with a terrible emphasis.