CALGARY -- The Alberta government says it will post online the resumes of companies that want to rebuild homes destroyed or damaged by the Fort McMurray wildfires in a move to help residents make informed choices.
Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee says homebuilders who wish to work in the ravaged northern Alberta community, the headquarters for Canada's oilsands region, will have to register a "builder declaration" before they can apply for a building permit.
The builder's construction and financial history, along with outstanding fines or orders, will then be made available online.
More than 80,000 people were forced from their homes on May 3 by the wildfire. The province says more than 1,900 residential units were destroyed.
Larivee said the decision to toughen regulations was prompted by problems that emerged five years ago after one-third of the houses in her home community of Slave Lake were destroyed by an out of control fire. She said she has talked to some people from that community who are still battling their homebuilders in court.
Jim Rivait, CEO of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Home Builder's Association, says the new regulations will be easy for existing homebuilders to adopt but will work to protect consumers from unqualified or unscrupulous builders.
