Fort McMurray Minute: Issue 135

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

📅 This Week In Fort McMurray: 📅

• There will be a Council meeting on Tuesday at 5:00 pm. Administration is asking Council to cancel three capital projects and adjust three others, which together would cut $1,718,937 from the approved 2026 capital budget. The largest cancellation is the $1.5-million plan, first approved in 2019, to widen Franklin Avenue to four lanes between Morrison Street and Hardin Street, after a traffic needs assessment found the extra lanes were not warranted. Administration also wants to drop a $100,000 project to install digital screens at municipal facilities and offices, citing a lack of operational capacity and sponsorship, and to cancel climate control for the batteries at the Fort McMurray Water Treatment Plant, freeing $113,937, after concluding it was not needed. On the other side of the ledger, the animal control kennel replacement would get another $25,000 for expected supplier price increases and tariffs, and $70,000 would buy an icebreaker for the coming winter's snow and ice work. The rural playground program, covering the Conklin Multiplex and Anzac Community School playgrounds, would be cut by $100,000 because Administration expects it to finish under budget by the end of 2026. Money from the cancelled projects would return to the Capital Infrastructure Reserve.
  
  
• Waypoints Community Services Association will tell Council tomorrow that changes to provincial shelter funding have sharply cut access to its emergency women's shelter for those not fleeing domestic violence. Executive Director Michele Taylor, Director of Programs and Services Tracey Lamb, and Board President Mavis Ure will give the charity's annual update at Council's 5:00 pm meeting. According to the presentation, women and children in crisis who do not meet the domestic violence funding criteria make up half of its clients, but since July only nine of its 45 beds remain available to them, with no dedicated funding for those beds. Waypoints says it expects funding for other beds to fall in its next budget year, and that no other service in the region can take in women with children facing sudden homelessness or crisis. The organization reports that its sustainability fund for capital projects and unexpected shortfalls has shrunk from over $700,000 in 2017 to $6,000. A mortgage renewal on its 78-unit Compass affordable housing building also required a significant paydown and raised its fundraising needs by about 40%. On the other hand, the presentation notes increased provincial funding for anti-human trafficking services, including six dedicated shelter beds and a full-time support worker.
  
  
• Council adopted the municipality's first formal Rural Snow and Ice Control Policy, approved at a special meeting on October 13th. Rural communities have always had winter maintenance but, unlike the Fort McMurray Urban Service Area, had no formal policy setting priorities and timelines, and the municipality says the new policy follows feedback from rural residents and community partners after a difficult winter. Under normal conditions, residential roads and school routes are to be plowed within 24 hours once more than 5 centimeters of snow falls, high-use industrial roads within 48 hours after 7 centimeters, and recreational and low-traffic roads within 72 hours after 9 centimeters. The policy also provides for snow removal on rural residential roads up to twice a season when conditions warrant, and plow windrows of 15 centimeters or more will be cleared from the ends of residential driveways within 12 hours. Residents must clear smaller windrows within 48 hours and clear sidewalks next to their property within 48 hours of a snowfall, while rural businesses and properties on lower-priority routes remain responsible for their own windrows. Bylaw Services plans to increase education and enforcement of the Community Standards Bylaw, with voluntary compliance as the goal.
  
  
• The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has released the 2025 edition of A Collaborative Pathway Forward, its annual report on the actions it has taken toward the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's 94 Calls to Action. The report covers the 2021-2025 Council term, and the Municipality says it highlights efforts to strengthen relationships, create learning opportunities, work with community partners, and build reconciliation into municipal operations and decision-making. Dennis Fraser, the municipality's Director of Indigenous and Rural Relations, said the report reflects contributions from First Nations and Métis communities, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and municipal staff. The Municipality is also inviting Indigenous artists who live in, are from, or have a strong connection to the region to submit artwork for the 2026 report, under the theme Truth and Reconciliation from a Wood Buffalo Perspective. Artists may submit up to four original works, those selected will receive a fee in line with national guidelines, and artwork made with generative artificial intelligence is not eligible. Submissions are due by 11:59 pm on December 31st.
  
  
• The Santa Claus Parade and Council's Starry Night return to Fort McMurray on Saturday, December 5th. Council's Starry Night begins at 5:00 pm at kiyām Community Park, where residents can join the Mayor and Councillors for hot chocolate and bannock and watch the lighting of the community tree and tipi. The parade is scheduled for 6:00 pm along Franklin Avenue, beginning at 5:45 pm on a designated sensory-friendly block of Main Street before lights and sound start at the Franklin Avenue intersection. The municipality is looking for floats and volunteers, with roles including barricade monitors, sidewalk safety elves, the toyshop team, and general event support. Non-profit organizations, and groups fundraising on behalf of a local non-profit, can take part as a fundraising opportunity. Applications are due November 19th.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

What do you think of the new Rural Snow and Ice Control Policy? With set timelines for plowing roads, clearing large driveway windrows, and removing snow from rural residential roads, the policy aims to provide clearer expectations for winter maintenance.

Are these timelines reasonable, and do you think the policy addresses the needs of rural residents and businesses?

Reply and let us know what you think.

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!