Alberta will receive an advance payment of $300 million in disaster funds in early July, with the payment coming from the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program according to a recent announcement about the payment. This payment is an interim funding payment which is based on a preliminary review of the wildfire damage in the province. According to a press release from federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale “The Government of Canada is moving quickly to make federal funds available for Alberta to alleviate the financial burden of recovery from the northern wildfires.” In addition another $90 million in Red Cross donations will be matched by the federal government and $30 million in donations to the Red Cross will be matched by the provincial government. The news release also detailed the fact that “Both governments are working closely with the Red Cross to determine how the funds can be best used to support recovery efforts in the impacted communities.”
Danielle Larivee, Municipal Affairs Minister for Alberta, discussed why the disaster funds alone are not enough to prevent future wildfire events in Alberta. “Alberta appreciates the support of our federal government and all Canadians as we continue to deal with a difficult situation. Much work remains ahead in the recovery of Fort McMurray. An even greater challenge is mitigating the risk of similar disasters in the future. We look forward to working with the federal government and other partners across Canada to make this happen.” Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo Wildrose MLA Tany Yao called for a review of logging and firefighting practices, saying “It is just about time to start taking a look at reviewing our strategies for how we do logging and fight forest fires. That’s something I want to see the province work with the federal government on. Hopefully we learn, because we obviously did not learn from Slave Lake.”