By David Wiwchar

$257.6M in proposed Federal Budget

Coulson praises MP for federal support

Nov 10, 2025 | 9:21 AM

Port Alberni’s Coulson Aviation could be in line for a share of $257 million for aerial firefighting if the Federal Liberal’s budget passes.

Company owner Wayne Coulson credits the political support of Courtenay – Alberni MP Gord Johns and others.

“Gord‘s been pushing extremely hard on the federal government to pivot and change and provide support to the promises, and working with Josie Osborne and Minister Ravi Parmar he’s been amazing,” he said. “They’ve been back east talking about the wildfire problems in the province, and BC is really looking to increase their initial attack capability with large airplanes.”

Coulson has the highest capacity firefighting aircraft in Canada with 4000 gallon tanks in their C-130 Hercules planes, while their competitors carry 2500 gallon tanks.

Coulson is currently in Southern California where his pilots are being honoured by the City of Santa Monica tomorrow for their firefighting in the Pallisades area this past summer.

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(photo courtesy Coulson Aviation)