The great Jasper wildfire of July and August simmers on with a new working title: Canada’s Most Divisive Disaster.

This week and last, MPs have been sniping at each other through five meetings of a parliamentary committee on environment and sustainable development.

The battle breaks down as follows:

The Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and NDP want to pin this tragic event on climate change.

Conservative MPs would like Canadians to know how badly Ottawa screwed up fire prevention and the firefighting itself.

The deck is stacked, as you’d expect from a Liberal-dominated committee. One session had two subjects:

“Factors leading to the recent fires in Jasper National Park” and “Profits and emissions reduction efforts in Canada’s oil and gas industry.”

They’re not subtle.

Throughout, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault claimed that Ottawa could not have done better either before or during the fire.

At any suggestion that Ottawa was lacking, he trotted out climate change as the true culprit. It was clear more than once that a big ugly fire in Alberta is a great boost for his climate agenda.

Focusing on climate also turned minds away from serious questions about Ottawa’s performance as the power in charge of both prevention and........

© Calgary Herald