Wildfires take toll on Alberta, Saskatchewan finances

Alberta has released its 2015-16 first quarter fiscal forecast, which reflects higher-than-anticipated costs for fighting wildfires and drought.

The first quarter forecast shows an increase of $456 million for disaster assistance, including agricultural drought relief and wildfire fighting costs, over and above the $301 million allocated in the March 26 budget, Alberta Treasury Board and Finance said on Monday.

In total, the forecast includes an increase of $1.4 billion in operating expenses and a deficit of $5.9 billion.

“The first quarter update highlights the difficult choices we have ahead as we build a budget that is prudent, while creating jobs and protecting the frontline services that Albertans count on,” Joe Ceci, Alberta’s president of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance said in a press release. He added that “forecasts indicate our economy will recover in 2016.”

In Saskatchewan, forest fires and the decline in oil prices have also put the province’s finances into a deficit position after the first quarter of the fiscal year, Finance Minister Kevin Doherty noted on Monday when he released his 2015-16 First Quarter Financial Report. “Lower oil prices combined with an unprecedented number of forest fires and the largest evacuation in Saskatchewan’s history are putting pressure on the province’s finances,” Doherty said in a statement.

Total revenue for Saskatchewan for 2015-16 is now forecast at $14.04 billion, down $237.8 million from budget. Total expense is now forecast at $14.33 billion, up $161 million from budget, putting the current projected deficit for the fiscal year at $292 million.

In late June and early July, about 13,000 people from 50 communities in Saskatchewan had to flee their homes.

On May 26 in Alberta, four wildfires were burning out of control, one day after lightning sparked 11 new wildfires and the province issued a full fire ban on all forests. More recently, in August, the Alberta government declared that the hardship to agriculture from this year’s drought constituted a disaster.