I am not completely clear as…

I am not completely clear as to why southern Ontario would not be included in this strategy. While I understand that northern Ontario is at far greater risk for wildland fires, southern Ontario is not without risk, especially Eastern Ontario. Where I live in Eastern Ontario there are still several contiguous areas of forested land that under the right conditions could be at risk for wildland fire (interesting change in language btw). If we have learned anything from large scale fires in Canada's western provinces it is that municipal fire departments are NOT equipped to deal with wildland fires as a first response. We are seeing this again in Jasper. Many of eastern Ontario's municipal fire departments are composed of volunteers and I would assume even less equipped to deal with wildland fire than a larger city department or for that matter MNRF.

Also, why would southern Ontario NOT be mentioned in this strategy as a target for better communication and education on wildland fire prevention or for that matter education on fire in natural areas (prescribed burning etc.)? Many people from southern Ontario travel to northern Ontario for recreational and tourism purposes. Is it not worth MNRF's time to spend education/communication partnership money on the human component of wildland fire prevention? This is where community partnerships would pay dividends I would think yet is not specific target in this strategy. As far as I know, wildland fires are still caused primarily by lightening strikes but there is a human component in this as well.

What would be beneficial as well is have a summary of any lessons learned in managing/controlling wildland fires have been learned by MNRF from other countries (Australia) and Canadian provinces and how we can adapt these for use in Ontario. How can the experiences elsewhere inform this strategy?

I do hope that MNRF and specifically aviation, fire response and emergency response has adequate funding for this initiative. It's quite frustrating to see such an important ministry be played with by politicians who'd rather focus on unimportant issues like cider in stores than MNRF.