Wildfire disaster a product of capitalism

The following statement was issued May 17 by Joseph Young, chairperson of the Communist League in Calgary, Alberta.

A massive and still-burning wild fire has destroyed a major part of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and forced the emergency evacuation of the entire population. While there are hundreds of fires in the region every year, the social catastrophe in Fort McMurray today is not caused by nature, but is a product of the profit-driven capitalist system. Some 2,400 homes and other buildings were destroyed, more than 10 percent of the total. And 8,000 more workers were ordered out of the area May 16 when the fire threatened 19 oil work camps north of the city.

In recent years Fort McMurray’s population mushroomed as bosses seeking to profit from exploitation of the oil sands brought in thousands of workers. Despite the well-known fire danger, the bosses’ government paid little attention to the safety of the city’s residents.

As the spreading fire threatened the city May 1, authorities did nothing. They waited two more days before ordering an evacuation, giving residents only minutes’ notice. The only highway out of the city rapidly became gridlocked. While the need for a second highway had been discussed for a decade, it never fit into the profit-driven priorities of the rulers.

Workers in Fort McMurray had already been hard hit by layoffs with the worldwide downturn in the oil industry. Almost 10 percent of workers in Fort McMurray were already unemployed, and home foreclosures were on the rise.

As workers flocked to the area, developers built houses right up against the tree line or even into the forest. Fire breaks to protect the city were never built.

The financial press cheered the resulting rise of oil prices, ignoring the human toll. “Oil price rises as Canada wildfire disrupts supply,” the May 5 Financial Times said.

In a massive outpouring of solidarity, working people lined the 270-mile highway to Edmonton to offer gas canisters, food, water, diapers and other necessities to evacuees. In sharp contrast to the bosses’ indifference, this shows how our class is capable of organizing to defend workers’ safety and well-being.

The provincial government made a one-time payment of $1,250 to adults and $500 for children, an amount utterly inadequate to meet people’s needs. At the same time, the government is rushing to help the oil bosses restore production.

Many evacuees are eager to clean up and rebuild. Tens of thousands of workers with all kinds of skills are unemployed. The Communist League in Canada calls on our unions to demand the government organize and fund a massive public works program at union rates of pay to rebuild Fort McMurray.

When Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second largest city, was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the revolutionary government organized an orderly evacuation of those at risk and volunteers were mobilized to begin rebuilding immediately. The difference between Alberta and Cuba? Cuban working people made a socialist revolution in 1959. They took political power and the self-confidence and self-worth they have conquered through their revolution gives them the capacity to run Cuba based on human needs, not profit.

Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home