BRAND NEW WATER BOMBER SECRETLY GROUNDED DURING WORST WILDFIRES IN A DECADE

Scott Moe Claimed Bomber Had Not Been Delivered, Photos & Flight Data Show It Sitting At La Ronge Airport

REGINA – While northern communities were evacuating amid the worst wildfires in a decade, the Sask. Party government’s newly purchased multi-million-dollar water bomber secretly sat idle in La Ronge.

According to publicly available flight tracking data, the Conair Dash 8-Q400AT airtanker (tail code C-FFYJ) was quietly delivered to the Government of Saskatchewan on May 30, 2025, flying from Conair’s base in Abbotsford, B.C. to La Ronge. The aircraft has not logged a single flight since.

Just days later, on June 2, the communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge, and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band were forced to evacuate. Homes in Denare Beach were destroyed by wildfire on June 3. Fifteen homes in Sucker River, a 15-minute drive from the airport, were also lost.

Yet during a Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) briefing on June 6 — exactly one week after the plane was delivered — Premier Scott Moe falsely claimed the new airtanker was not in the province, stating:

“We had ordered and budgeted for four significant upgrades to our tanker fleet, four tankers that will be coming in the next number of years. One of those will be arriving here this spring, in the days ahead, and it will be available as soon as it is able.” (38:00)

Moe repeated the lie again at a June 11 SPSA briefing, adding that “we could have used it a few weeks ago.” (26:00)

Sources tell the Official Opposition that the plane was nearly lost when fire breached the La Ronge airbase on June 2 — the aircraft had to be physically pushed to prevent it from being consumed by flames.

Sources also tell the Opposition that, as of last week, the government had still not hired or trained a pilot to operate the new aircraft.

“While people were fleeing their homes and communities were burning, the Sask. Party left a brand new and badly needed air tanker sitting on the tarmac,” said Nicole Sarauer, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Public Safety.

“The moment this plane arrived, the government should have brought it into action dumping water on the fires burning our communities.

“Scott Moe needs to answer why his government let this water bomber collect dust and he needs to answer for why he either lied to the public or was asleep at the wheel during a wildfire crisis unlike any we’ve seen in a decade.”

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