A man who pleaded guilty to setting 14 fires in 2023 also shared misinformation and conspiracy theories about wildfires and climate change.

A Quebec resident who last summer had shared conspiracy theories online suggesting that the Canadian government was deliberately starting wildfires to convince people climate change is happening has now pleaded guilty to setting more than a dozen fires.

Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty to lighting 14 fires in the Chibougamau area of Quebec between May and September 2023. Last year was Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, with a total of 45 million acres burned. On many days, smoke from the fires spread across North America and around the world, degrading air quality and disrupting the daily lives of millions of people.

Two of the fires Mr. Paré set forced people to evacuate about 500 homes in the town of Chapais at the end of May, according to a statement by the prosecutor, Marie-Philippe Charron, in court and reported by The Canadian Press. One of those, the Lake Cavan fire, burned more than 2,000 acres of forest and was the largest of the fires Mr. Paré admitted lighting. The court hearing took place Monday; sentencing is expected in April.

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        • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          The rumors in the clownvoy supporting pockets of small towns was that Trudeau was having these fires started on purpose in order to cloud out the sky to make it harder to grow crops and make people more reliant on the federal government.

          I really wish I didn’t know this…

          • otp@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            I heard it was to trick people into believing in climate change so they would support taxes and bans on gasoline vehicles. This would result in “lockdowns” limited to public transit (owned by government), walking (slow and undefended), or electric vehicles (which could be tracked and even controlled remotely by the government).

            This would ensure that everyone would live in 15-minute cities and never leave. And where other bad things would happen, like sex education and universal basic income, I guess.