A conspiracy theorist who posted online about the government deliberately setting forest fires has pleaded guilty setting 14 forest fires.
According to the Canadian Press, Quebec native Brian Paré pleaded guilty to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life in Chibougamau, Quebec.
Last summer was an especially bad one for wildfires in Quebec, with smoke from the more than 700 forest fires over 4.5 million hectares making its way to the rest of North America, including New York City, where the sky became a hazy orange.
Paré wasn't solely responsible for the fires, as most of them were caused by lightning and dryness, but the 14 he did set caused evacuations of the town of Chapais, Quebec and Lake Cavan.
He set the fires between May 31 and June 1. He regularly posted on Facebook that the government was setting these fires to frighten people about climate change.
Last June, when wildfire smoke affected the skies across the eastern United States, memes were plentiful blaming Canada for what happened. That includes an infamous New York Post cover which blamed Canada for turning New York into an "eerie, smoky hell."
