Mr. Speaker, Budget 2022 announced $256 million for the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate, or FMWCC, program to support the efforts of provinces and territories to strengthen capacities and capabilities in fire management across Canada by procuring specialized wildland firefighting equipment.
The Equipment Fund under the FMWCC currently has agreements in place with Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Yukon.
The program spent $6.75M in fiscal year 2022-2023 and has committed to spend another $30.9M for the 2023-2024 fiscal year to procure specialized equipment. To date, $188.8M has been committed over 5 years, with the remaining to be invested in the near future.
Of the $6.75M that has been spent to date, $6.62M was invested in specialized wildland firefighting equipment including, the repair of aging equipment, vehicles, mobile units, avionics upgrades, wildfire tools, first aid equipment, hoses, pumps, trailers, storage containers, chainsaws and accessories, fire camp water systems, weather stations and enhanced communications equipment. The remaining $0.13M was invested in personnel and training.