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DETROIT — Smokey Bear famously said, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
But because Canada has not put in an ounce of prevention — the smoke from its wildfires has invaded Michigan and other American skies for three straight summers — it will take a pound of cure to Make Michigan Summer Again.
So it falls on the best dealmaker the White House has ever seen to make our northern neighbor an offer it can’t refuse: Either Canada puts out the wildfires ASAP. Or the US military will, perhaps en route to Canada’s annexation as the 51st state.
Since the time of James Monroe, America has been jealous of the events within its hemisphere.
Usually any problems emanate from parts south, whether it’s fentanyl in Mexico or nuclear weapons in Cuba — not Canada.
Any one summer of smoke can be understood, even excused. Things happen.
Perhaps the second was a coincidence.
But the third, as Ian Fleming would say, feels like enemy action. In just three years, America’s friend to the north has become a bad neighbor.
The Canadian Wildfire Information System shows moderate-to-high threats of fire danger in Ottawa, north of Michigan. In eastern Canada, above New England, the threats range from high to extreme.
Esri Canada’s map of active wildfires shows a problem from sea to smoke-covered sea.
BBC calls 2025 Canada’s second-worst wildfire season on record.
Conservative member of Canadian Parliament Michelle Rempel Garner has joined the blame game, declaring an “utter lack of action from the federal government” created the problem.
Smoky summers were not a fixture of my childhood and cannot become a new normal for Michigan’s children.
Nobody in Lansing has any answers.
I asked a friend at Michigan’s environmental department what was being done about the wildfire smoke.
I was told it had issued air-quality alerts. That’s not exactly the proactive response we’re looking for.
“In recent years, Michigan has seen unprecedented levels of wildfire smoke drifting across its communities and much of the rest of the country,” reads the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy website.
“In addition to pollutants like fine particulate matter carried in the smoke, there are gasses containing the chemicals that — when combined with sunlight — form ground-level ozone. These chemical reactions contribute to elevated ozone levels seen in areas across Michigan.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has thoughts on everything from tariffs to the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill to the price of back-to-school gear.
But she’s been oddly silent on the smoke that falls on the Traverse City Democrat and the Midland-area Republican alike.
Whitmer spent one-fourth of last year traveling abroad, and she is keeping a similar pace in 2025, according to her public calendar. Perhaps too many of her travels this year are to foreign lands and too few within Michigan, to take up the plight of the pleasant peninsulas.
Whitmer met with President Trump this month at the White House. She apparently left her folder at home this time rather than hiding behind it.
Reports say Whitmer spoke about the $50 million in disaster relief Trump already granted for a northern Michigan ice storm — from months ago.
There is no evidence Whitmer spoke a word about the current problem.
The Michigan and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources have sent waves of firefighters to Canada, but it’s not enough.
Whitmer doesn’t want the smoke with Canada. And why would she? She’s just a governor. She’s not looking for an international incident, especially when playing on the perception that Trump and Canada are at odds due to tariffs.
Michigan Republicans haven’t done much better. Rep. John James, who’s running in the 2026 governor’s race to replace Whitmer, sent Canada a strongly worded letter. Then he got the other six Republicans in Michigan’s congressional delegation to join him in a second letter.
But Canada is the wrong target. James doesn’t need to send a letter up north. He needs to call his friend the president.
Trump has an affinity for Michigan and finished all three presidential campaigns there.
It would break the man’s heart to know we are being smoked out of our summer.
Canada can’t be trusted to put out the wildfires.
The provinces Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have banned camping and hiking rather than fight fire with water.
Canada has taken an active disinterest in managing its problem.
And now its problem has become our problem.
When Trump gets involved, there won’t be a problem.
The wildfire smoke Canada treats as a gateway to authoritarian rule, offering another chance to order people to “stay home and stay safe,” is a threat to our lives and livelihoods in Michigan.
This aggression cannot stand.
President Trump, it’s time to make Canada an offer it can’t refuse.
James David Dickson is a podcaster and independent journalist in Michigan.