Our bid to become the home of the new Canada Water Agency sank like a bowling ball, but city officials think this new idea will float everyone’s boat

Still desolate after being rejected as home base for the new Canada Water Agency, Sault Ste. Marie is now planning to waterbomb federal officials for another prize: a national forest fire agency.

“We totally should have gotten the Canada Water Agency here. We were a better fit, and we had a great proposal,” Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour said at a city council meeting tonight. 

“We should have got the Canada Water Agency,” agreed Mayor Matthew Shoemaker. 

“If you look at Canada on a map, Winnipeg is not terribly close to any bodies of water that are significant. But nevertheless, we will take what we learned from that exercise and apply it to forest-fire fighting, and hopefully be successful in this one and build from what we’ve done in the past,” the mayor said.

City councillors voted tonight in favour of launching a campaign to make Sault Ste. Marie home to a national wildfire centre, or even a national headquarters for all Canadian emergencies.

Some council members expressed hope that we can make an even stronger case to become a forest-fire fighting centre than a water headquarters.

Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi said he talked about the idea recently with Shoemaker. 

“We talked about those as a country, as it relates to forest fire management and the like. And then when the federal government started talking about how they might tackle it more comprehensively as a nation, we thought we would be in a position to be a leader in this effort.”

“I think it’s a slam dunk,” said his ward mate, Coun. Matthew Scott.

“I think Sault Ste. Marie has a lot of the ingredients to make this kind of an agency a real success.” Coun. Dufour said.

“We have a lot of expertise in this area locally that doesn’t often get talked about or advertised. And I think being a border city is also an advantage here. We have a lot going for us.”