Fort McMurray Minute: Arena Groundbreaking, Flood Mitigation, and Drug Treatment Court

Fort McMurray Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Fort McMurray politics

This Week In Fort McMurray:

• The Communities in Bloom Committee will meet on Thursday at 6:00 pm. The Committee will review the summer and winter “Nominate Your Neighbour” campaigns, discuss a volunteer recognition event, and decide on the 2025 Flower of the Year, among other things.
  
  
• Premier Danielle Smith says that there are ongoing discussions about how to encourage “commuters” to Fort McMurray to set up shop here permanently. Smith told media at the Oil Sands Trade Show she is leaning towards developing incentives rather than forceful measures, such as work camp restrictions. MLA Brian Jean had already called the camps “harmful” to Fort McMurray. Smith said some ideas they are considering are a northern living allowance for people moving north, short-haul flights between remote sites and Fort McMurray, and rebates for companies hiring locally.
  
  
• The Municipality is reminding business owners that they must register their civic address to ensure proper mail delivery and support from emergency services. Canada Post’s new delivery system relies on the Municipality’s database, and unregistered addresses may face mail disruptions. Home-based businesses are exempt from these changes, but all other businesses should confirm if their address is registered. Only property owners can register business addresses, and registration costs $100 per address.

Last Week In Fort McMurray:

• Council approved a flood mitigation plan for the last remaining section of downtown without one. Building a 2.5 kilometer long flood protection system will now proceed after safety concerns brought construction to a halt in July. The plan of berms and retaining walls will cost $55.8 million. Originally the Municipality had planned to raise Clearwater Drive at a cost of $94 million but would have to obtain a number of environmentally contaminated lots to do so. Concerns about the project include creating blind spots around the walls which create opportunities for criminals to prey on people. Some designs were changed to mitigate these concerns.
  
  
• The groundbreaking ceremony for the Northside Twin Arena in Fort McMurray was celebrated by Mayor Sandy Bowman, Councillors, and community members. The new facility will span 6,420 square meters and feature two ice surfaces. Scheduled to open in Fall 2026, the arena will support various sports, including hockey and figure skating, and will include amenities such as seating for 300 spectators per ice sheet and ten change rooms. The total estimated budget is $50 million, and the operator of the facility has not yet been disclosed.
  
  
• RCMP leadership has declared Fort McMurray’s drug treatment court a success. The program is designed to offer a restorative approach to fighting crime and addictions in the community.  Since the court opened in December 2022, twelve people applied for the program and eight have been accepted. The program offers treatment and courses on overcoming addictions by providing each participant with a customized plan. Participants are supervised, take part in frequent drug testing, must follow certain incentives and sanctions, and must complete 100 volunteer hours during the program. The program recently celebrated its first graduate who was facing jail time, but instead, spent 17 months in the program.