If the proposed amendments to legislation are adopted, fines will be increased for persons and organizations, which neglect fire bans and cause forest fires.
According to Bill 24, maximum fines will increase from $5,000 to $1 million for organizations and up to $100,000 for individuals. Moreover, organizations could be fined up to $10,000 for not having a proper wildfire plan or having improper firefighting equipment.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier commented the bill on Monday saying that it was a common knowledge that many wildfires were caused by human activity. The statistics shows that human activity accounts for 70 per cent of wild fires.