Liberals move forward on training 1,000 new firefighters

August 18, 2021

Vancouver, British Columbia – A re-elected Liberal government will support the training of 1,000 new community-based firefighters and the purchasing of new equipment to continue to fight the impacts of climate change across the country.

The extreme heatwaves and wildfires across Canada this summer have underscored the urgency of fighting and adapting to climate change. Canada needs to take strong action to prepare for future extreme weather events, and keep Canadians safe and healthy.

“We are in a climate emergency,” said Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. “We’ve taken real action to protect our environment and grow our economy since 2015, but we know that we need to be bigger and bolder in the fight against climate change. The safety and security of Canadians is at stake, and we have to act now.” 

A re-elected Liberal government will continue to fight the climate crisis and prepare for future extreme weather events to keep Canadians safe and healthy, by:

  • Training 1,000 new community-based firefighters to ensure we have the support we need in future fire seasons;
  • Working with provinces and territories to provide firefighters with the equipment they need to fight fires and stay safe, like Canadian-made planes to increase provincial aerial firefighting capacity;
  • Helping Canadians make their homes more resilient from climate change, through retrofits and upgrades; and
  • Partnering with the private sector to innovate climate adaptation, including by lowering insurance premiums that would save Canadians money.

This builds on the work that the Liberal government has been doing to fight climate change and protect Canadians from extreme weather events, including: 

  • Deploying the Canadians Armed Forces to help monitor and contain wildfires in Western Canada;
  • Using the power of nature to cut pollution and make our communities more resilient to extreme weather, including by planting two billion trees;
  • Enhancing wildfire preparedness in Canada’s national parks to make our public spaces safer;
  • Advancing Canada’s first-ever National Adaptation strategy to reduce climate change risks to Canadians;
  • Supporting climate mitigation and rehabilitation projects to protect Canadians from climate-related disasters; and
  • Increasing the AgriRecovery funding to address additional costs faced by producers due to drought and wildfire.

“Canadians are seeing the real impacts of climate change in their communities, but Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives deny that it’s even real,” said Mr. Trudeau. “In this important election, Canadians have a clear choice: Let the Conservatives take us backward to the inaction of the Harper years, or move forward with a real plan to fight the climate crisis, keep Canadians safe, and grow the economy. We have to move forward.”

Backgrounder: Fighting Wildfires and Adapting to a Changing Climate

For more information, please contact:
media@liberal.ca
613-627-2384