Fort McMurray wildfire wiped out seven million work hours: StatsCan

FORT McMURRAY The wildfire last May led to more than seven million lost work hours in Wood Buffalo, according to Statistics Canada data presented Thursday to the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce.

A presentation from Connie Graziadei, assistant chief statistician with Statistics Canada, showed the wildfire’s economic damage had serious consequences for the local and national economies.

In Wood Buffalo, 7.6 million work hours were lost, with the natural resources and construction industries the most affected.

The real GDP dropped 0.4 per cent during the second quarter of 2016. Manufacturing related to machinery, fabricated metal and petroleum and coal equipment reported the largest declines during the wildfire.

“We’ve always known we’re a fairly significant contributor to the economy, but sometimes we forget to see how significant,” Blake said. “Our impact on the country is really reflected in these charts and graphs.”

A total of 1,935 residential buildings were destroyed in the wildfire, including 2,574 living spaces such as apartments. The blaze claimed 23 commercial and industrial buildings. A total of 571 rebuild permits were issued between July and October, with Mayor Melissa Blake saying 30 rebuilt homes are inhabited right now.

There have been 32,000 personal and commercial property claims, and 12,000 automotive claims, with a combined value of $3.7 billion.

Non-conventional oil extraction dropped by 20 per cent last May after an eight per cent decline in April. There were significant decreases in delivery of crude oil to major refineries because of the wildfire. Refineries used their inventories to support sales, but output was still affected.

Alberta refineries recorded a 40.7 per cent drop in receipts of domestic crude, while Ontario followed with a 36.9 per cent drop.

At the same time, monthly crude oil exports dropped by 1.2 per cent, while imports rose by 13 per cent to 3.4 million cubic metres, the highest level since August 2013. Roughly half of oil imported into Canada comes from the United States.

Lower production from the oilsands and Canadian refineries also meant a decrease in pipeline traffic of oil. Oil pipelines received 15.1 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products from Canada, and 4.9 million cubic metres were sent to Canadian refineries.

Retail services across Alberta were largely unaffected. Graziadei said this was likely because Fort McMurray accounts for less than three per cent of total provincial retail sales. However, Prairie provinces saw gas prices jump an average of 9.6 per cent in May.

Fort McMurray-Cold Lake MP David Yurdiga called the presentation “a harsh snapshot showing the challenges ahead,” but was confident the extra work for the construction industry and rising oil prices will be a major economic boost during the recovery phase.

“After we saw billions of dollars escape our economy locally and nationally, the spring rebuild is going to be hugely important,” he said.