Category: Economic

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Economic Ft Mac Politics

Are Councilor Expenses and Public Relations Spending Excessive?

The councilor expenses and public relations spending is being scrutinized by the public, and some are calling the amounts being spent excessive while others defend this spending as a necessary cost of being a council member. In February an FOIP request was submitted by Fort McMurray Today to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. The request was for the expenses in 2015 for the councillors and the mayor so that their expenses and public relations spending could be examined. Members of the council have three categories of spending that are budgeted for. Every council member receives a $10,000 budget for public relations, and this can include tickets to events and other public relations spending. Business travel is another budget category for expenses, and the third category is conference travel.

The councilor expenses, especially the public relations spending by each member of the council, seems excessive to some tax payers. Some also question the decision to allow each council member to determine how to spend their budgeted funds. According to Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake this was a decision made many years in the past. Blake explained “The budget is there, and you can spend 100 per cent of it without consequence. And if you spend zero of it, typically that’s a choice, sometimes it’s a philosophy.” Councillor McGrath spent more than $14,000 on public relations, and he explained his spending during a recent interview by saying “I use my public relations budget to support many groups in the community. Whether it be a prize for a kids’ golf tournament, whether it be a prize for a sick kid. So I use that budget, absolutely. At a fundraiser for a lady with cancer, I had a suitcase, and I filled it with different things branded with the municipality’s logo on it for an auction item.”

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Economic Ft Mac Politics

Should Oil Companies Get a Lower Tax Rate for Reducing Commuters? Councillor Allan Vinni Thinks So.

A motion was proposed by Councillor Allan Vinni to allow a lower tax rate for oil and energy companies who operate in the region in exchange for the companies using fewer commuters and trying to fill positions with local workers instead. The goal of the proposal is to place a priority on local workers and help stabilize the local economy. The council will be debated at the council meetings on April 5, 2016. During an interview given shortly after the motion was made Vinni explained the reasoning behind his proposal. “Not very many places in the world have 80,000 people living in their community permanently, with another 40,000 flying in and flying out, not paying local taxes and doing work local people would like to see. Other communities would be rightfully questioning why that many people can’t just live here and put the community first. We need to decide if we’re going to be a work camp or a community.”

In exchange for receiving a lower tax rate Councillor Allan Vinni wants to see oil companies who operate in the oilsands region make a commitment to fill positions with local workers first, only turning to commuters when this is not possible. Vinni talked about the FIFO culture and how it impacts Wood Bufffalo, saying “They just didn’t seem willing to do anything about the FIFO culture or, at best, just saw it as a complex problem involving competition between companies. FIFO is a very complex issue, I understand that. But if we’re going to reduce their taxes, which is what they’ve been wanting, I don’t see how I could ever support reducing them if they’re not willing to do something for the residents. We see companies offer incentives at projects within commuting distance of the community, but there’s a number of different factors on why skilled workers choose to live a commuting lifestyle. I’ll just say that we’re certainly open to having these discussions with the municipality and key stakeholders now.”

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Economic Ft Mac Health

Gratitude Campaign to be the Biggest Northern Lights Health Foundation Fundraiser Yet

The current Gratitude Campaign is expected to be the biggest Northern Lights Health Foundation fundraiser to date. The campaign and fundraising goals were revealed at the annual Spring Fling gala that the foundation holds each year. The goal set for the campaign is $16 million and it will be used to support a total of 8 health care projects, some in the rural communities of Wood Buffalo and some at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. None of the projects named is the helipad because the Alberta Health Services has not announced the project approval yet and a date for a helipad has not yet been set. The province must consider the exterior renovations planned for the hospital, set at $42 million, when planning for a helipad.

Northern Lights Health Foundation Gratitude Campaign will raise funds for a palliative care suite, new minimally invasive surgery suites, main lobby renovations, and continuing care unit refurbishment at the hospital. The campaign is also expected to cover the Healthy Schools Initiative public health campaign, the Early Investments Project public health campaign, and a multipurpose clinic. The new palliative care suite at the hospital will cover the north end of the third floor medicine unit and it is greatly needed according to the foundation because there are currently only two patient rooms available for this purpose. The unit will be named for 19 year old Jeremy Snook who lost his battle to brain cancer in 2013. Hopefully the foundation will raise the total of funds needed during the campaign to complete all of the projects planned.

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac

More Layoffs and Job Cuts Planned by Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy has confirmed that the company will be engaging in more job cuts and layoffs although an exact number of the jobs affected or the disposition of these jobs has not been addressed yet. Oil has now gone up past $40 a barrel, leading some to hope that things were turning around for the region and local economy. In the last few years company after company has cut jobs, laid off workers, and trimmed spending and expenses in order to stay competitive. The announcement by Suncor shows that the economy has still not fully rebounded and things are still somewhat tough for oil companies in the current environment.

Sneh Seetal, the spokesperson for Suncor Energy, recently gave an interview and discussed the planned job cuts and layoffs. “In regards to which oilsands projects we’ll be looking at, some of this is the in situ replication work. There’s no set number, because we need to make the business decisions and decide what’s the work that needs to be done, while doing it efficiently and making it sustainable. That will be the workforce we need as we go into the future.” Seetal also stated “As we make those adjustments to our workforce, our workforce requirements will change and unfortunately this means some people will leave the organization. This is a stressful time for people, but we are committed to treating people with dignity and respect. This continuation of our cost reduction efforts and our need to be a low cost operator is to maintain our competitive position, regardless of different market cycles.”

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac Health

Preparations to Conduct Bitumen Shipping Feasibility Study Underway

Preparations to start a bitumen shipping feasibility study is underway as one company examines whether it is possible or feasible to ship bitumen to Alaska from Fort McMurray using rail. The proposal was floated by G Seven Generations, and it involves the survey of potential routes when early spring hits using LIDAR flights. If the plan is not implemented before the foliage and leaves are thriving and in full bloom then these could block any aerial views and prevent the surveys from taking place by air. The proposal involves building a 2,400 kilometre railway that starts in Fort McMurray and ends up in Delta Junction. Once the bitumen reached Delta Junction the plan calls for the product to be transferred to the existing pipeline that reached the port of Valdez. From here the bitumen would be loaded onto tankers for other parts of the globe.

The feasibility study on sending bitumen by rail involves using heated rail cars to carry the bitumen, making any environmental cleanup a snap if there was a spill. CEO Matt Vickers told the media that spill cleanup “is going to be easy because it comes out like molasses.” Vickers has made a promise that aboriginal communities located along the route would get a 50% equity ownership, and a number of indigenous communities in Canada and the USA have voiced support for the plan. The governor of Alaska and a number of Alaskan mayors have also promised their support for the project. Vickers also pointed out “What rail will do that a pipeline can’t is it will immediately change the cost of living in the north. Every commodity you need can be shipped easier to the north.”

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Alberta Economic Ft Mac Health

Child Development Challenges in Fort McMurray the Subject of New Study and Report

A new report and study has found that there are many child development challenges faced by kids in Fort McMurray, and that the quality of life in the area for children and adults both could be better. The study was used to prepare a report which included a number of common gripes for residents in the region. In 2013 an Early Development Institute report showed that one in three Fort McMurray kids who started kindergarten did not develop at a suitable rate on many levels including social, language, physical, and emotional developments. Report co-author Behnoush Ahranjani explained that “Children are in danger of not achieving their optimal full development.” There were many obstacles reported by parents and caregivers, and new parents seemed to have an especially hard time locating the resources and information that they needed.

The study and report on child development challenges in Fort McMurray showed that there were many different issues which could have an impact. Many parents and caregivers did not trust the information that they found online, and a large number had problems determining fact from fiction when they located information. Distance from friends and family, and a sense of being isolated, were also listed as reasons why the quality of life in the area could be better. A culture that favors shift work was also given as a problem, and shift work can make the difficulty of balancing a family and work even harder. Many study respondents reported that they felt that oilsands work was the only option in the region if they wanted to give their children an ideal lifestyle.