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OTTAWA — The government of Canada will match all donations to the Red Cross to assist people displaced by the wildfires in Fort McMurray, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced.

The House of Commons played host Thursday to a series of extraordinary statements by leaders about the devastating fire, which is in its third day and has forced the evacuation of nearly 90,000 people in northern Alberta.

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Trudeau said the scale of the fire’s destruction has not yet been fully assessed but called it “far-reaching and utterly devastating.”

“To see the pictures out of Fort McMurray right now that could be taken in a war-torn corner of the world instead of our own backyard is a reminder of how Canadians will and must stand together with our friends and neighbours in this difficult time,” Trudeau said in the packed Commons.

The government operations centre is co-ordinating the federal response and monitoring the situation around the clock, he said.