Manitoba declined to follow through on urgent plans to review wildfire preparedness after NDP took power
Kinew cabinet minister says internal assessments were conducted instead
Manitoba declined to follow through on urgent plans outlined in provincial documents to conduct an external review of wildfire preparedness after the NDP took power in 2023.
The minister in charge said the province conducted internal assessments of the wildfire service instead — and the civil servant in charge of the service said those assessments are thorough.
In a note prepared for the incoming government marked as an "urgent issue" in the fall of 2023, Manitoba's wildfire service said it wanted to review how prepared it was to respond to the next wildfire season, detect wildfires and make tactical decisions.
That note was part of a government-transition binder prepared for NDP officials following the provincial election in October 2023, in which the previous Progressive Conservative government was defeated. That binder was later published, with some redactions.
The service said in the note that it was "exploring opportunities" to hire a consultant to conduct a forensic examination of the 2023 wildfire season and assess the preparedness of the wildfire service for the next wildfire season.
"The focus of the study would be on identifying opportunities for improvement and addressing gaps," read the note, which listed assistant deputy minister Kristin Hayward as the official responsible.
The study would have examined how decisions were made both before and during the wildfire season, whether staff requested, collected and examined the right information to prepare for and manage wildfires, and whether the service had the right systems in in place to to support "safe, efficient and effective decision-making and operations," according to the note.
The study also would have looked at "whether the right information got to the people that needed it, both on a daily operational basis and during incidents," and whether existing policies and practices were followed, according to the note.
In addition, the study would have looked at whether key wildfire service personnel had the appropriate training and experience, the note said.
'Reviewed the options': province
Since the 2023 note, the government has not hired a consultant to assess Manitoba's wildfire preparedness, according to a statement from the province, which was not attributed to any official.
"The province reviewed the options but ultimately did not proceed with using an external consultant at that time," the statement said.
Ian Bushie, Manitoba's minister of natural resources and Indigenous futures, said in a statement the province conducted internal assessments of response times, protection and wildfire forecasting in 2024 and 2025.
Those assessments were led by the wildfire service, in collaboration with other departments and agencies, he said, with a focus on "building capacity within our public service" rather than outsourcing.
"Their deep knowledge and expertise provide strong internal capacity to identify what worked and where improvements are needed," Bushie said.
In an interview late Wednesday, Bushie said he could not say whether the internal assessments conducted over the past two years replicated the external review envisioned in 2023.
"Those things are a work in progress," the minister said. "As we go forward in each season, we learn from each season, we learn in real time to be able to assess.
"So I couldn't actually go back and refer to old documents and say, yes, we've checked this box."
Bushie also said he is not aware what transpired in 2023, when a PC government was in power, to warrant a forensic examination of wildfire preparedness.
Current wildfires in northern Manitoba:
Hayward said on Thursday that she has confidence in the internal assessments conducted by the wildlife service. They have led to changes that include training staff earlier in the season, bringing in aircraft earlier so they are ready to fly and purchasing more equipment, including information technology.
Those assessments, she said, involve debriefings with out-of-province fire crews and Manitoban staff.
"We know our situation well and we're really well-positioned to be able to do an assessment and implement any recommendations that would come out of that," Hayward said during a wildfire briefing at the Manitoba Legislative Building. "So although a consultant was one of the options, it wasn't certainly the only option to get that work done."
Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor said Thursday that the province also hired and trained initial attack crews a month earlier as a result of those assessments.
During a Monday news conference, Naylor also said wildfire officials were prepared for everything that has transpired during the 2025 wildfire season, the worst in recent memory.
A total of 9,022 square kilometres of the province have burned so far this year, displacing roughly 22,000 people. The burned area works out to 1.6 per cent of Manitoba's land mass.
Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan questioned whether the province was in fact prepared for a wildfire season of this magnitude.
"The question becomes, was this government completely caught off guard by this?" Khan asked during an interview from Ottawa on Wednesday.
He questioned why Manitoba did not hire an external consultant to review wildfire preparedness.
"This recommendation was made to the NDP. The NDP chose not to take action," he said.
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