Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday saw the devastation caused by a wildfire that tore through the Alberta town of Fort McMurray and forced several oil sands operations to shut.
The inferno is the first natural disaster to confront Trudeau, whose Liberals took power in November. He promises the federal government will do everything it can to help in a rebuilding effort likely to take years.
“The people of Fort McMurray have been through so much and are still standing strong,” Trudeau said via Twitter.
Trudeau has faced criticism in Alberta, a province that does not usually vote for his party, for waiting more than a week to survey the damage. The prime minister has said he did not want his visit to interfere with firefighting efforts.
“I hope he provides more aid,” said Fort McMurray housekeeper Maureen Pearce at a supply centre for evacuees in Lac La Biche, Alberta.
The 88,000 people who were evacuated hurriedly as the town caught fire are living in temporary accommodation across the province while authorities work to restore power, gas, water and communications.
Local officials say it will be 10 days before they can even produce a plan for resettlement, much less allow people to return to a place where small fires are still erupting.
Pearce, who believes both her Fort McMurray home and the hotel where she works survived the fire, said emergency funds from the Alberta government are helpful.
“But if we’re going to be out of our homes for a month, we’ll need more.”
Evacuees are collecting this week Alberta debit cards loaded with C$1,250 ($966) per adult and C$500 per dependent, as well as Canadian Red Cross aid of C$600 for each adult and C$300 for each child.
The wildfire knocked out nearly half, or 1.07mn barrels per day (bpd), of Alberta’s oil sands capacity. The effort to restart projects is progressing slowly.