The Manitoba Liberals are demanding the Pallister government invest in fireboats to help battle wildfires and to protect shoreline communities in our province.
"The community of Little Grand Rapids is located along the shoreline of Family Lake. It would have been an ideal situation for the community to have access to a fireboat to protect homes along the shoreline," said Kewatinook MLA, Judy Klassen.
Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi are located in Klassen's constituency of Kewatinook. Both communities are being evacuated due to a massive nearby wildfire.
"A fireboat is essentially a fire engine on water. The use of a fireboat could have helped manage the extremely dangerous situation the community of Little Grand Rapids is currently facing," said Liberal MLA, Jon Gerrard.
The Manitoba Liberals have been calling on the Pallister government to invest in fireboats since the devastating wildfire that destroyed parts of Fort McMurray, Alberta. The PC government has completely ignored and rejected the idea for the past two years.
"The Pallister government has said that the government should focus on what it is good at - public safety. Then why is protecting Northern Manitobans from wildfires not a priority of this government," said Klassen.