In Fort McMurray, it seems like history is repeating itself. In 2011, another city in northern Alberta, called Slave Lake, also had a massive fire tear through town, also in May, the dry season. A massive evacuation. Damage totaled $800 million.
So 18 months later, the province produced a report. Their very first recommendation to prevent another fire like that was that municipalities cut down trees near buildings, roads and hospitals.
And the report was ignored, by the PCs, then the NDP. So they’re partly to blame.
But so are environmental extremists.
You see, they think cutting down a single tree is a shameful act.
In Fort McMurray, they didn’t cut down trees next to highways and buildings. Under pressure from eco-extremists, they planted more of them, in the name of “eco-tourism.”
The town also adopted a “green plan,” ensuring “that natural features of development sites (trees, vegetation, wetlands, etc.) are not removed or filled.”
Then of course, when the fire did come, the NDP government had cut the firefighting budget by 80 per cent, and Notley literally laughed at any “fear mongers” who dared question that.
What happened in Fort McMurray was a natural disaster. Lots of politicians bear the blame.
But it also happened, in part, because environmental extremism came ahead of evidence-based forest fire policy — and people’s property and lives... |
