Tag: Wood Buffalo

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Alberta Ft Mac Politics

Wood Buffalo Student Vote Help Students Learn About Elections

student vote, Wood Buffalo

The recent Wood Buffalo student vote helped students in the local community learn about elections and the voting process. In general youth voter apathy in Canada is a growing concern however this was not an issue in Fort MacMurray and Wood Buffalo recently when students had a chance to cast their vote. The Student Vote Project was a simulation of of the 2015 Alberta provincial election in order to attract and engage young voters. 20 different schools in Fort MacMurray and more than 1,500 students participated in the project. The students had an opportunity to cast their vote the day before the provincial election was held, and some also had a chance to work as poll workers and other election officials as well. It was a fun and educational experience for the students.

Westwood High School social studies teacher Lise Arsenault participated in the Wood Buffalo student vote project and helped to run the vote at the school. Arsenault said “I thought it would be a good social studies aspect, it was part of our curriculum. Encouraging students to vote and actually to get a real experience out of it would be essential to encourage them to vote later on.” Student Noku Mpofu, in grade 12, said “Every vote counts, so it’s a first time I could have my voice really heard. I wasn’t planning on voting and even if I was I wasn’t sure who to vote for … if we hadn’t done all of this stuff I wouldn’t be as informed.”

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Ft Mac

Pet Service Providers in Wood Buffalo Come Together

Wood Buffalo, pet service providers

Wood Buffalo pet service providers have started to come together in order to provide better services and for these businesses to be more effective. The Pet Care Network was the brain child of Ann Kidston, owner of Ann’s Pet Services, and Jane Hetfleis, who owns the Pet Steps Dog Training. Both owners got together and started the Pet Care Network in order to provide a collaborative and consistent approach to pet care. Both of the women behind the Pet Care Network started their businesses because of their love for animals, and their desire to see animals well cared for.

When discussing the support network for pet service providers in Wood Buffalo Jane Hetfleis said “We’ve pretty much proven we can do whatever we want … and it’s really nice we have the ability to do now what we want. A lot of folks think anybody can walk a dog, but in this day and age, we see a lot of animals with behavioural issues, and depending on how you approach the animal, you can make them better or make them worse, so it’s important the handlers understand animal body language and safe ways to approach the animal.” Ann Kidston explained “You’ve got to be accountable to yourself — win, lose or fail,. Having a stable partnership with someone … we can support each other, we have the same work ethics, we have the same commitment to our clients and pets.” Hetfleis also commented “There’s a lot of pet sitters in town, a lot of sole proprietors, and that can be difficult, being a one person show, so having the ability to provide the community with continuity of service, we thought, would be a huge advantage.”

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Ft Mac Politics

Wood Buffalo Council Byelection Today, Remember to Vote

Wood Buffalo, council byelection

The Wood Buffalo council byelection is being held today, and residents are reminded to vote. The special election was made necessary when Coun. Guy Boutilier resigned on January 24. Seven individuals are running for the council. The polls opened at 9 am this morning and they will stay open until 8 pm tonight. Poll locations include the Oil Sands Discovery Centre, Ecole St. Paul School, MacDonald Island Park, and Holy Trinity High School. In order to vote you must be a Canadian citizen, be a minimum of 18 years old, and have been a resident of Alberta since at least September 30, 2014. Voters must also be a resident of Ward 1 as of today, and you must present a valid item of identification from the list of acceptable identification located at rmwb.ca/elections.

The seven candidates who are running for the single election seat available in the Wood Buffalo council byelection are Mohammad Dogar, Monte Vickerson, Veronica Doleman, Chris Flett, Mike Durocher, Colleen Tatum, and Verna Murphy. In the last few elections the voter turnout has not been fantastic, and officials are hoping that voters will go to the polls and make their choice in bigger numbers this time around. The poll hours show that the municipality is trying to make it easier for voters to turn out even if the work during the day. Many citizens do not make an effort to vote, taking their freedoms and the way things are right now for granted. Voting is a privilege as well as a right and more citizens should make the effort to have their voice heard when it comes to government affairs and their elected officials.

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Economic Ft Mac

Wood Buffalo Must Prepare For Rebound According to Mayor Blake

Wood Buffalo, Mayor Melissa Blake

Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake discussed the economy last week with a Parliamentary committee, and she told the committee that the Wood Buffalo area has been through oil price drops before and that one of the important lessons learned in the past was how to get ready for a rebound. Blake spoke to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance which is investigating the economic impact that dropping oil prices has. Mayor Melissa Blake stated “In mid-2008, we had our first breather since the rush to oilsands development took hold a decade before. We had a chance to catch up, a chance to plan, a chance to get ready for what was coming next. And what came next was a very busy rebound. Our community is still catching up since the more than doubling of our population since 2000. Experience tells me that it is really hard predicting the price of oil in either direction. From a community perspective, the rapid upswings can be even more difficult than what we’re currently experiencing.”

Mayor Melissa Blake had the opportunity to speak about the Wood Buffalo economy during the last day of the 3 day committee hearing, providing the group with some insight into the special situation and circumstances that Wood Buffalo faces. Blake said “Today we have $21 billion in oilsands projects already approved, $4 billion in various forms of construction and another $26.5 billion in applications,. Yet capital spending pales in comparison to what these companies will spend over the life of those projects. We’ve come through even darker days of our past even stronger than before and I believe we will do that again this time.”

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Economic Ft Mac

Downtown Arena Project in Wood Buffalo Has Reached the Public Stage

Wood Buffalo, downtown arena
Wood Buffalo, downtown arena

The downtown arena project in Wood Buffalo has finally reached the public stage, and this is a big step forward for the project. Now the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will start the public consultation process in order to finalize approval for this project. A letter of intent with Clearwater Consortium was approved Tuesday night by the RMWB Council, and this covers building and operating a Sports and Entertainment Centre downtown arena with seats for around 7,000 people. Melissa Blake, the current Fort MacMurray Mayor, said “We have to give final analysis at some point, but I’m really excited that council made the agreement to proceed to the letter of intent and that finally, the public is going to get a chance to see it and make some feedback.”

The Clearwater Consortium proposal for the downtown arena in Wood Buffalo includes various responsibilities and benefits for each party, and many believe that the proposal is fair for both sides. Coun. Guy Boutilier, who has expressed his displeasure with how things have bee handled since tender offers were received, said “I think it’s an important engagement process with our citizens, I think that this is going to be a huge expenditure, and as a huge expenditure, we want to hear from our public. Have I been pleased? No, I haven’t, and that’s why the sooner we get this out to the public and get their input before any final decision is made.” Now the public gets a chance to ask questions and get the answers that they are looking for.

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Ft Mac

Conklin Multiplex Breaks Ground, Will House Various Wood Buffalo Offices

Conklin, Wood Buffalo
Conklin, Wood Buffalo

The Conklin community is celebrating the start of a new multiplex, and the ground breaking for the project happened recently. On Monday the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo broke ground so that constuction on the Conklin multiplex could begin. Right now things are only in the design stage, and the project will go out for tender sometime in 2015. The multiplex will include recreational facilities for residents, and it will also provide local services such as the bylaw offices of RMWB and the RCMP. According to Conklin Resource Development Advisory Committee executive director Jeffrey O’Donnell “(It)was a great day for Conklin, and we really congratulate Wood Buffalo council on their forward thinking on this project. That’s so important to the community because the community currently provides a really wide range of social services…Having a multiplex there, we’re able to actually align all of these services and strategically being able to deliver them over one roof.”

Wood Buffalo and Conklin will both benefit from the new multiplex, and currently community services are operated from numerous locations. O’Donnell explained “They’re either too small or there’s not enough space. The Metis local doesn’t have an office, the CRDAC is being run out of a lodge. All of our services are spread out all throughout the community, so we need that essential point to deliver.” He continued by saying “The big question seems to be, is it worth it?. When you develop individuals as a whole in a positive environment, the society and the community generally benefits immensely, weighted against negative social interventions. What the idea was at the time was that Fort McMurray had more capacity to deliver programs and services… (and) 19 years after the fact some of these things are actually coming to life. We’re just super excited to see the dirt move.”