Ontario's Ford slams Trump for attack on Canada over wildfire

ONTARIO, July 19 (Reuters): Ontario Premier Doug Ford said US criticism of Canadian efforts to stop the "terrible scenario" of spreading forest fires in his province and choking smoke across a broad swath of the United States was "absolutely unacceptable."

"We're trying to get through this," Ford said on Saturday, adding that if the situation were reversed and the US were facing wildfires, "we're going to be down there to support our neighbours."

President Donald Trump blamed what he called incompetent Canadian forest management for the smoke and said on Friday he would add the "incalculable cost" of dealing with the pollution to existing tariffs on Canadian goods. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ford's remarks.

Ford said at a press briefing that 655,000 hectares (1.6 million acres) of forest were burning across Ontario, Canada's most populous province.