It is a fire storm of epic proportions and it is still getting worse. Across America’s West Coast, what hasn’t already been incinerated is under threat from fires moving so fast, some people are running for their lives.
Air quality is terrible in some cities not just close to the fires, but far away. New satellite images show it blowing from the West Coast of North America all the way over to the Great Lakes. Forecast models show it will keep spreading east in the coming days.
All of this is happening in the midst of a global pandemic and as kids go back to school, when access to fresh air is supposed to help keep people safe. For weeks, daily COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in parts of western Canada. Heather Yourex-West reports on how the smoke could make the COVID-19 situation even worse.
U.S. President Donald Trump is in stark disagreement with California Gov. Gavin Newsome and other western governors over the cause of these fires, with Trump blaming the state mismanagement of the forests. As Eric Sorensen reports nobody wants to see all this destruction, but it could force climate change onto the agenda in November’s presidential election.
Ross Lord is in Fredericton, N.B. where Premier Blaine Higgs took a risk calling a snap election, but it paid off for him as he won a majority Conservative government.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are getting their ducks in a row before the next session of Parliament. They held a cabinet retreat in Ottawa Monday and the pandemic (not surprisingly) dominated the agenda. Abigail Bimman has more.
There’s a bold claim being made about a tiny find. It may be the closest we’ve come to proving we’re not alone in the universe. Astronomers have discovered a potential sign of life in the clouds over Venus, earth’s closest neighbour. Scientists are trying to find out where it came from and what it means and as Mike Armstrong reports, it’s generating a lot of excitement.
