The Saskatchewan NDP plans to call on the Provincial Auditor to investigate the Saskatchewan government for allegedly overspending $100 million on water bombers, as well as their failure to ensure water bombers were maintained and fully operational during the spring and summer of 2025.

At one point there were 10,000 people evacuated and Denare Beach saw over 200 homes burn to the ground with several water bombers still not operational. The NDP says publicly available flight data show that two of the province’s Convair 580As and two CL-215Ts tankers were out of service during one of the worst stretches of the wildfire season.

Airtanker supplier Coulson Aircrane filed an affidavit recently stating that the Saskatchewan government awarded a contract worth over $187 million to Conair for four waterbombers without putting the contract out to public tender.

Coulson says it could have supplied the planes for $100 million less.