iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 22/07/2026

In other words, to advance major projects “in the national interest” (like pipelines and military hardware), the PM has slashed the number of public sector workers who coordinate the response to emergencies “of a national interest”.

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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 22/07/2026

As @sharondesousa.bsky.social of @psac-afpc.bsky.social says, “Gutting it by almost half puts people across the country at risk, including frontline workers who are battling wildfires, supporting evacuations and risking their lives.” ottawacitizen.com/public-servi...

ottawacitizen.com

Carney government cut nearly half the jobs at nerve centre for managing wildfires: union

The Carney government cut about 50 positions from the federal nerve centre responsible for managing forest fires, the union says.

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🍁 Christine 🍁 @204queenb0574.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

The 48 hours his government took to respond to Wab Kinew's request for military help with Manitoba flooding is just unacceptable. To me, it's akin to Trump ignoring blue states called for FEMA aid simply because they have different politics. The pressure for MB to allow pipelines is sickening.

Federal face time missing from Parkland flood response

IN politics, it’s often just as important to be seen to be doing your job as it is to do your job.

For a case in point, let’s look at the rather odd, casual way in which the federal Liberal government responded to devastating flooding in Manitoba.

Torrential June rains flooded parts of Swan River and surrounding communities. More rain in late June and into early July swamped Dauphin and Swan River again, washing out roads and inflicting massive damage on public and private property.

Premier Wab Kinew, a master of not only acting quickly but being seen to act quickly, visited the flooded western Manitoba communities in person and flooded social media with images of the devastation and messages about his government’s response.

Now, it should be said that it’s Manitoba, the province Kinew leads. He has no excuse except to get himself out to the front lines as soon as possible to do and be seen to be doing.

However, disaster response is a responsibility shared between the provincial and federal governments. So, where were the feds as Parkland region residents were fighting back the floodwaters?

For the most part, they were in Ottawa. Which is to say, they were not in Manitoba flying around the flooded areas with Kinew.

Not having boots on the ground, as political types like to say, isn’t necessarily a problem as long as the response from Ottawa was swift and robust. Whether or not that is true in this instance is very much a matter of debate.

Federal disaster assistance, including support from the military, is triggered when a premier asks Ottawa for help. Kinew did that on Wednesday. But it took until Friday before federal and provincial officials reportedly had their first opportunity to meet.

The response from federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski arrived at a very odd time: a statement was released at 9:20 p.m. Friday detailing how Ottawa was going to help. In case you were wondering,…

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