{"id":107078,"date":"2026-07-21T15:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107078"},"modified":"2026-07-21T15:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:52:37","slug":"union-blasts-ford-government-for-mismanagement-of-forest-firefighting-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/union-blasts-ford-government-for-mismanagement-of-forest-firefighting-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Union blasts Ford government for \u2018mismanagement\u2019 of forest firefighting efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet As wildfires swallow swaths of northern Ontario, in what is already the worst wildfire season in the province\u2019s history, the union representing forest firefighters is sounding the alarm over what he calls \u201cgovernment mismanagement at the highest levels.\u201d Noah Freedman, vice president of Local 703 with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, says from human resources to aircraft, the province\u2019s culture of relying on surge funding to pay for forest fires is costing Ontario a lot more than money. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is government mismanagement at the highest levels,\u201d Freedman says. \u201cWe have a lack of helicopters to get people to fires. We have a lack of crews to get people to these fires. The reason these fires ended up the… <\/p>\n

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By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet As wildfires swallow swaths of northern Ontario, in what is already the worst wildfire season in the province\u2019s history, the union representing forest firefighters is sounding the alarm over what he calls \u201cgovernment mismanagement at the highest levels.\u201d Noah Freedman, vice president of Local 703 with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, says from human resources to aircraft, the province\u2019s culture of relying on surge funding to pay for forest fires is costing Ontario a lot more than money. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is government mismanagement at the highest levels,\u201d Freedman says. \u201cWe have a lack of helicopters to get people to fires. We have a lack of crews to get people to these fires. The reason these fires ended up the... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nUnion blasts Ford government for \u2018mismanagement\u2019 of forest firefighting efforts - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/union-blasts-ford-government-for-mismanagement-of-forest-firefighting-efforts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Union blasts Ford government for \u2018mismanagement\u2019 of forest firefighting efforts - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet As wildfires swallow swaths of northern Ontario, in what is already the worst wildfire season in the province\u2019s history, the union representing forest firefighters is sounding the alarm over what he calls \u201cgovernment mismanagement at the highest levels.\u201d Noah Freedman, vice president of Local 703 with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, says from human resources to aircraft, the province\u2019s culture of relying on surge funding to pay for forest fires is costing Ontario a lot more than money. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is government mismanagement at the highest levels,\u201d Freedman says. \u201cWe have a lack of helicopters to get people to fires. 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