Fort McMurray wildfire adds $500M to Alberta’s projected deficit
Posted Aug 23, 2016 1:39 pm.
Last Updated Aug 23, 2016 1:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The devastating Fort McMurray wildfire is expected to torch Alberta’s bottom line by about $500 million this year.
Finance Minister Joe Ceci says he has had to revise the projected deficit upward in the first-quarter fiscal update to almost $11 billion from $10.4 billion.
Ceci says the $500 million represents recovery costs and about $300 million in lost revenues because the disaster curtailed oil and forestry production in northern Alberta.
The spring wildfire forced more than 80,000 people to flee for a month and destroyed more than 2,400 homes and buildings.
Ceci says the fire, along with persistent low oil prices, will continue to depress Alberta’s fortunes this year, but things are
expected to improve in 2017.
