INTERNACIONAL
Trudeau’s bungled wildfire response made Canada most polluted country on continent: critics
A new air quality report found that Canada had the most polluted air of any North American country in 2023, as critics say the Trudeau government’s scattered response to the disaster likely made matters worse.
«2023 marks the first time in our report’s history that Canada had such high levels of PM2.5,» Natasha Ganes, Public Relations Manager for IQAir North America, told Fox News Digital. «Wildfires in the summer of 2023 devastated air quality throughout not only Canada, but also the United States as well due to transboundary haze and air pollution that drifted across borders.»
«During May of 2023, PM2.5 levels in Alberta surged almost ninefold compared to the same period in 2022,» Ganes added. «In fact, most of the 10 most polluted cities in Canada in 2023 were in Alberta due to those fires.»
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has continually sounded the alarm over climate change, even saying in 2021 that «climate action can’t wait» and committing to «creating a green economy» while trying to «cut pollution and build a cleaner future for everyone.»
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A spokesperson for Canadian Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan told Fox News Digital, «The government of Canada believes in science. Climate change is real and knows no borders. Denial is no longer an option.»
«That is why Canada has taken several steps to prepare for and adapt to climate change and its unrelenting impacts,» the spokesperson said, noting that 90% of the country’s forests are owned and managed by respective provinces, and the federal government coordinates with them in response to fire crisis.
An aerial view of a wildfire near Tatkin Lake in British Columbia on July 10, 2023. (BC Wildfire Service/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Despite his warnings, he has done little to actually prepare for the crisis. As the wildfires started, Trudeau dismissed concerns that his government had contributed to the crisis by failing to update its forest management policies and keep firefighting facilities upgraded, and resisting calls for a national firefighting service.
The Frasier Institute, a libertarian-conservative think tank in Canada, acknowledged that while global warming is occurring, simply ascribing forest fires to environmental conditions, as Trudeau did early on in summer 2023, ignores ongoing issues with domestic policy and infrastructure.
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Citing the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Frasier Institute in a write-up on Canada’s increasing frequency and duration of «fire season» noted that climate officials have assigned «medium confidence» to climate change alone driving increased «fire weather.»
By the end of summer 2023, Trudeau started discussing issues with infrastructure funding, suggesting that his government should look at federal spending on such areas.
«I think we need to start looking at that around emergencies, we certainly need to look at that around infrastructure investments,» Trudeau replied during a conversation with local leaders in British Columbia.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has continually sounded the alarm over climate change. (ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
«This is something with which we are fully seized and our minister of infrastructure, among others, will be fully engaged with, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with provincial and municipal leaders in a collaborative way to respond to these challenges,» Trudeau added.
Minister Sajjan’s spokesperson insisted that «Canada’s preparation is solid and continues to evolve as we learn from these events.»
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«In collaboration with provinces and territories, we have invested heavily in firefighting training and in the purchase of specialized firefighting equipment needed … including for First Nations and are identifying barriers in training,» the spokesperson said, noting the government is making a stronger push to invest in disaster preparedness and improve habitat redevelopment.
«To reduce wildland fire risks, we are enhancing the FireSmart Canada program, and are creating a Centre of Excellence for Wildland Fire Innovation and Resilience,» the spokesperson added. «We have also released the National Risk Profile to better understand risks across the country and increase our preparedness.»
Orange-tinged smog caused by Canada’s wildfires shrouds New York City on June 7, 2023, obscuring its famous skyscrapers and causing residents to don face masks. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
The recent air quality report, published annually by Swiss tech firm IQAir, looks at PM2.5 air quality from 30,000 monitoring stations across 134 countries, territories and regions.
PM2.5 particles are fine particulate matter that measure 2.5 microns or less in diameter — commonly produced by combustion of gasoline, oil, diesel fuel or wood — and measured in concentrations of micrograms per cubic meter air.
Canada recorded a jump in concentration from 7.4 to 10.3, but a spokesperson for IQAir acknowledged the jump most probably occurred as a result of the extreme fire season that ravaged the country in 2023.
A person wearing a face mask takes photos of the skyline as smoke from wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in New York City on June 7, 2023. An orange-tinged smog caused by Canada’s wildfires shrouded New York on Wednesday, obscuring its famous skyscrapers and causing residents to don face masks, as cities along the US East Coast issued air quality alerts. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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The wildfires claimed the lives of nine people (including eight firefighters and one child) and burned 45.7 million acres — roughly twice the size of Portugal, according to The Guardian. The fires burned so intensely that smoke even polluted parts of the U.S., creating alien atmospheres as the skies turned orange or even red.
Yellowknife, a city in a more remote part of Canada, had to evacuate 20,000 people as the fires raged. The IQAir report showed that Yellowknife experienced a massive leap from an average concentration of around 4.63 between 2017 and 2021 to 20.8 in 2023.
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India ranked as the country with the most polluted air, with all but eight of the top 50 most polluted cities within its borders, and the most polluted city, Begusarai, recording a concentration of 118.9.
The most polluted city in the U.S. is Coraopolis in Pennsylvania, followed by Forest Park in Georgia and Cave Junction in Oregon. Coraopolis recorded a concentration of 19.3.
The Canadian prime minister’s office did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by time of publication.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is holding out «hope» that Russia will agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine as the first step to ending the brutal three-year-long war.
«We know where we are with Ukraine,» he told reporters while speaking from the Oval Office alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
«Hopefully they’ll do the right thing,» he added in reference to Russia.
President Donald Trump and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the White House on July 18, 2019. Rutte, now NATO secretary-general met with Trump in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
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Trump’s comments came just moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an address in Moscow in which he thanked Trump for his ceasefire efforts, noting he agreed with them in «principle» but signaled he was not agreeing to the 30-day proposal as it stands now.
Trump said he was aware of Putin’s comments at the time of the Oval Office press conference and classified the Russian leader’s comments as «promising» but «incomplete.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
«He put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete,» Trump said. «I’d love to meet with him or talk to him, but we have to get it over with fast.»
The president noted that Russian officials have flagged grievances relating to debates over the Zaporizhzhia power plant and Ukrainians’ admittance into NATO, which Putin also touched on during his address in Moscow.
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«A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed,» Trump told reporters moments after Putin’s remarks. «Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia is there.
«If they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world,» he added.
Check back on this developing story.
INTERNACIONAL
Donald Trump usó «palestino» como insulto contra un senador y fue cuestionado por grupos judíos y musulmanes
El presidente de los Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, se vio envuelto en una nueva polémica al utilizar el término «palestino» para descalificar al senador demócrata Chuck Schumer.
«Solía ser judío. Ya no es judío, es un palestino«, fueron las palabras que utilizó el mandatario para referirse al senador.
Esto provocó el repudio de diversas organizaciones y funcionarios que lo acusaron que promover el racismo y usar la palabra «palestino» como una forma de discriminación y por considerarlos directamente ofensivos.
«Un presidente tiene muchos poderes, pero ninguno de ellos incluye decidir quién es judío y quién no. Hacerlo, y usar la palabra ‘palestino’ como insulto, son dos cosas inapropiadas para cualquier (presidente de Estados Unidos)», declaró en la red X la Liga Antidifamación, un grupo activista judío (@ADL).
Por otra parte, Nihad, Awad, quien es director del Consejo de Relaciones Estadounidenses-islámicas (CAIR), afirmó que «la forma en que el presidente Trump usó el término ‘palestino’, como un insulto racial, es ofensiva y no está a la altura de la dignidad de su cargo». Debería pedir disculpas«, agregó.
La Directora del Consejo Judío Democrático de América, Halie Sofer, condenó las declaraciones de Trump y las calificó como «aberrantes».
«Desde que asumió el cargo, ha enaltecido a los teóricos de la conspiración antisemitas y ha atacado nuestra democracia. Su retórica, su agenda y su alineamiento con extremistas de derecha ponen en peligro a los judíos estadounidenses», escribió Soifer en X (@HalieSoifer).
El senador por la minoría demócrata Chuck Schumer, está presionado por los republicanos para que apruebe en Senado antes del viernes a la medianoche, un proyecto de ley de presupuesto para que el gobierno no sufra una parálisis financiera.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has once again called on the U.S. to place nuclear weapons within its borders in a show of deterrence to Russia’s continued aggression just over the border in Ukraine.
A similar request was apparently made to the Biden administration in 2022, which was never agreed to, but Duda has not given up on the idea. This time he addressed his appeal to the Trump administration during an interview with the Financial Times that was published Thursday.
«Russia did not even hesitate when they were relocating their nuclear weapons into Belarus,» Duda told the Financial Times in reference to actions Russia took beginning in 2023, a year after it invaded Ukraine. «They didn’t ask anyone’s permission.»
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about where President Donald Trump stands when it comes to this form of deterrence.
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President Andrzej Duda speaks during the Polish parliament meeting in Warsaw on March 7, 2025. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Trump administration this week took steps to try and bring about an end to the war in Ukraine, which has been raging for more than three years following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
While Ukraine has agreed to the U.S.’s initial 30-day ceasefire contingent on Russia’s acceptance of the terms, Moscow has not, and it is unlikely that the Trump administration would take steps to jeopardize those negotiations by agreeing to put U.S. nukes in Poland – which shares a border with Russia and could be viewed as a threat by the Kremlin.
But Duda’s advisor on international affairs, Wojciech Kolarski, echoed the Polish president’s plea and, in a Thursday interview with Poland’s RMF FM radio, argued that as a NATO member who shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region, as well as Ukraine and Belarus, the steps were important for Warsaw’s security.
Aerial view taken on Nov. 17, 2022 shows the site where a missile strike killed two men in the eastern Poland village of Przewodow, near the border with war-ravaged Ukraine on Nov. 15, 2022. (Wojtek Radwanski, Damien Simonart/AFP via Getty Images)
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But should the U.S. again refuse Poland’s request, there is another nuclear-armed nation in the NATO alliance that may be willing to assist in «nuclear sharing.»
Amid mounting concern in the European Union that the U.S. could withdraw forces from the bloc or become an unreliable defense partner in countering Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron opened discussions on a strategy that could help extend its nuclear deterrence to other EU nations.
French President Emmanuel Macron meets with President Donald Trump. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
While the specifics of that strategy remain unclear, including whether France has proposed actually dispersing nuclear arms to other nations, Poland has reportedly been in talks with France about the issue.
Russia has already called France’s strategy to re-evaluate its extension of nuclear deterrence «extremely confrontational.»
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Despite Moscow’s objections, France’s defense concept is far from new as the U.S. deterrence umbrella during the Cold War was intended to ensure NATO allies would be protected under America’s nuclear power in case of a direct threat by another nuclear-armed nation, like Russia, China or North Korea.
While France is the EU’s only nuclear power, it has the third-largest nuclear stockpile when it comes to nuclear-armed nations in NATO, which also includes the U.S. and the U.K.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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