Sask. got the bushfire report months before it was released: Opposition

The Official Opposition of Saskatchewan said emails obtained through a freedom of information request revealed the province’s public safety agency had a copy of the final draft of an independent report on last year’s fire response months before it was released to the public.

The internal emails, shared with Global News by the NDP, include a March 25 email from an MNP employee addressed to two Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) officials, who presented the final draft of the independent report.

This came several months before the province released the report publicly on June 12, along with 11 action items in response to recommendations contained in the document, after weeks of delays and increasing public pressure over an unknown timeframe.

“If they receive this report in March and delay it until June, then there is an avoidance of accountability in the process,” Jordan McPhail, northern affairs critic for the Official Opposition, said on Wednesday.

The province launched an independent review of its 2025 wildfire response last fall, following devastation that made it the second-worst wildfire on record, with more than 500 wildfires burning more than 2.9 million hectares of land.

The report was originally scheduled to be completed before the bushfire season on March 31.

But Michael Weger, Saskatchewan’s public safety minister, told media at a technical conference days after the initial deadline that the MNP needed more time to complete the report.

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“In consultation with MNP, it was decided that some additional time would be required to ensure that the review was comprehensive, and also included the involvement of several fire behavior specialists,” Weger said on April 8.

Two days later, on April 10, an internal email from SPSA’s executive director, who now heads a unit created to respond to the recommendations set out in the report, said the agency was working to respond to the draft document “early next week.”

“I do not anticipate any material concerns or suggested changes to SPSA based on my internal discussions to date,” the staffer said in a obtained email to MNP employees.

However, Weger said SPSA had to provide “further documentation” to MNP and answer some of the company’s “unanswered questions” between April 27 and May 22, but could not provide further details about what the documentation or information included.

“Obviously, I am in no way directing anyone to delay the processing of this report. We trust SPSA and MNP officials to work together to produce a final report,” Weger told Global News in an interview on Wednesday.

Weger said he did not know specifically what further information the SPSA would need to provide.

Global News has contacted MNP to get a clearer picture of the timeline of events, but the company said it does not discuss its clients’ work, and referred questions to SPSA.

SPSA referred the matter to Weger, who said he received the final report with SPSA president Marlo Prichard on May 22, and shared an email showing when he first received the report with Global News.

Weger previously told media on June 12, when he released the independent review to the public, that he first received the report on May 22.

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Saskatchewan has ‘significant gaps’ in 2025 bushfire preparations, response: report

Regarding the delay, Weger said March 31 was an “optimistic deadline.”

“I think there may be more work involved in putting together that review than previously thought,” he said.

In response to the review, the province established what it calls the Future Preparedness and Implementation Unit to monitor and implement the 11 action items outlined in the report. Weger said he receives “regular briefings” from the group, and an announcement will be made as the province reaches the end of the bushfire season.

It is currently unknown what the contents of the announcement are.

Last year’s fire season cost the government an additional $392 million, according to its latest budget, which was the largest portion of overspending of $970 million.

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