MHA renews call for return of water bomber and base to Wabush

Labrador West MHA Jordan Brown is renewing his call for the provincial government to return a water bomber to Wabush and reestablish the base there.

Ahead of Wednesday’s provincial budget, Brown says the province has an opportunity to increase protection of Labrador West, home to several mining communities and a region that endured consecutive dramatic wildfire seasons in 2023 and 2024. Last year’s fires forced emergency evacuations of Labrador City and Churchill Falls.

In May 2024, at the beginning of last year’s wildfire season, Brown referred to the 2023 wildfires as a “good example of how vulnerable Western Labrador is to forest fires,” adding that in June 2023, “the region was surrounded by fires just across the border in Quebec, cutting off our road and rail access for a significant amount of time.”

Now the NDP member is sounding the same alarm, but citing the even more harrowing 2024 wildfire season and the evacuation of Labrador City, the largest emergency evacuation in the province’s history. That, he says, is reason enough to dispel any doubt that the remote region deserves its wildfire protection services reinstated.

“Since 2018, our province has been operating one water bomber short, while this Liberal government drags its feet on repairs and allows costs to balloon,” he said in a news release Monday. “Labrador West residents know we cannot afford any more delays. We need that water bomber back, and we need it based in Wabush where it belongs.

“Government hasn’t yet provided a clear reason for their refusal,” Brown goes on to say. “I hope they recognize the importance of having a water bomber in Labrador West, but their refusal to rebuild the base in Wabush puts the region at risk.”

Last summer, government announced the creation of the Atlantic Wildfire Centre in Gander, a move Brown says offloads fire safety responsibilities in Labrador to Quebec, since Labrador West is on the Quebec-N.L. border and closer to resources in the neighbour province. The NDP news release says the decision is an example of the provincial government’s ongoing neglect of Labrador and its residents.

“This is just another example of government treating Labrador West like a mining camp, rather than the vital community that it is,” Brown says. “Labradorians deserve to feel safe and protected, but instead government is choosing to walk away from its responsibility.”

The Furey government will drop its 2025 budget on Wednesday.