Ontario’s minister of emergency preparedness and response hung up during a CBC radio interview
A handler disconnected the call after the minister was asked about the province’s wildfire communications with Indigenous communities
You would think that Ontario’s minister of emergency preparedness and response would have plenty to say about the wildfires in northwestern Ontario given that, as of Monday, the region is still enduring 142 active fires, with 46 deemed not under control. More than a dozen northern communities, including 10 First Nations communities, have been forced to evacuate, according to a report from CBC Thunder Bay.
Here in Toronto, and in other regions across the province, the air quality was among the worst in the world last week as a result of the fires.
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But, when Jill Dunlop, who is also the Progressive Conservative MPP for Simcoe North, appeared on the CBC’s As It Happens yesterday, some of the radio hosts’ questions were left unanswered. Dunlop’s handler abruptly ended the interview early, shortly after co-host Nil Köksal brought up criticism of how the province has handled communications with affected Indigenous communities.
A voice that wasn’t Dunlop’s popped in, saying, “Let’s just wrap it up now if that’s okay.” When Köksal replied that she had a few more questions and that they could finish up within three minutes, the handler responded, “Um, no. It’s been eight minutes. Thank you so much for your questions.”
Köksal pushed back, asking, “Why would the minister not want to answer the questions of her constituents?”
“She has. Thank you for your cooperation. Bye-bye,” the handler said before disconnecting the call.
Wildfires in Ontario have destroyed 7,250 square kilometres of forest this season, making it the province’s worst wildfire season on record.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
