FEATURED HEADLINE
BC NDP Forests Minister Ravi Parmar, tasked with addressing criticism of the Eby government’s handling of the wildfire crisis, responded grumpily in a recent video that he does not have time for the BC Conservatives and that if they want to play politics they can fill their boots. Moments after the press engagement ended, when a reporter asked for an up-to-date map of the Cariboo fires, he told her to check the website and added that if it is not there yet it will be eventually.
This exchange took place as British Columbia remains under a province-wide state of emergency declared amid more than 100 active wildfires, nearly half out of control. The Bald Range wildfire exploded rapidly, forcing the evacuation of Summerland and surrounding areas and displacing roughly 22,000 people while trapping others who required air rescues. Homes were destroyed and a woman died during the evacuation. Officials compared the fire’s intensity to a bomb going off.
Public comments on the video described the response as pure arrogance and questioned why hard questions about the crisis were dismissed as politics. Critics, including loggers, the BC Green Party, and Conservatives, have pointed to years of inadequate fuel management, dense forest conditions from past suppression policies, bureaucratic barriers, reduced timber harvests, and job losses in the forestry sector as leaving communities exposed. Residents in earlier fires have reported feeling abandoned amid communication failures, while the government’s overall approach has drawn repeated accusations of unpreparedness and prioritising political framing over clear information during a disaster that continues to threaten lives and property.
LIKE OUR WORK?