Article content

If Alberta’s first quarter fiscal update holds true, the Fort McMurray wildfire will cost the province half a billion dollars this year.

According to figures released by Finance Minister Joe Ceci Tuesday, Alberta is now in its worst economic downturn in more than 30 years. Not since 1982-83 has there been such sustained negative growth.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Fort McMurray fire burns $500 million hole in Alberta's finances Back to video

“I don’t need to tell my fellow Albertans that as a result of the oil-price shock, the economic headwinds facing Alberta remain strong,” Ceci said Tuesday at a news conference where he released the latest numbers.

“This year those headwinds are blowing even harder as a result of the Wood Buffalo wildfire.”

Thanks to the slump in oil prices, the province was already on rocky financial ground before the fire sparked in May.

The wildfire burned an area the size of Prince Edward Island, destroying 2,302 residences in 1,599 structures, as well as 15 commercial properties. Insurable losses topped $3.6 billion — more than the 2013 southern Alberta floods and the 1998 ice storm in Ontario and Quebec.