I was frustrated to wake up to smoky, hard-to-breathe air last week. To hear there were dozens of wildfires burning in the province, and hundreds in the country, and the blowing smoke was making the air quality in Belleville, Trenton, and Prince Edward County amongst the worst in the country.

I’m appreciative of the firefighters and emergency response crews that face a busy summer, and likely several busy years to come, trying to keep these blazes under control and put them out, but as the week went on and I listened to the news, I found myself wishing we had a provincial government that appreciated the need for these crews ahead of time, instead of only when they were needed.

Premier Ford’s 2019 budget cut 67 per cent of the Emergency Forest Firefighting Budget – over $140 million. OPSEU President JP Hornick says they are going to be short 50 fire crews for this season as a result of the cuts — just like the cuts that have led to staffing shortages in healthcare and other fields. By the end of the week, it felt like the smoke was just going to be another reminder that we have a provincial government that doesn’t plan for emergencies or listen to experts – they merely react, and the reaction is often too little, too late.