EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is promising 300 South African firefighters who helped out with the Fort McMurray blaze will get the wages they were promised for coming to Canada.
Speaking to reporters in Calgary, Notley says Alberta signed a contract with the South Africans to pay the firefighters roughly $170 a day and to cover their food, lodging and travel.
A spokesman for the South African agency that contracted the firefighters says the workers receive their normal rate of pay, plus $50 extra a day while working in Canada.
Their normal pay is only $200 to $1,200 a month in Canadian dollars, depending on their rank.
Notley is assuring those firefighters they will be paid according to Alberta law.