Talk:Fort McMurray

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Fort McMurray Community Profile

As an employee of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, I am not the most suitable editor for the Fort McMurray page (due to a perceived conflict of interest). However, I would like to bring a document to everyone’s attention. It is a current Community Profile Report which is packed with up-to-date, accurate and relevant information which would make a great contribution to the Fort McMurray Wikipedia page. Feel free to use any of this content in future updates.

Download the report via the following links:
PDF File: http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/futureforward/html/pdf/fort_mcmurray_community_profile.pdf
Word File: http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/futureforward/html/pdf/fort_mcmurray_community_profile.doc

For your reference on where the report came from and what it is about:

The Community Profile was developed as part of a major community visioning process called Future Forward, initiated by Mayor Blake in 2005 and launched in 2006. It is a multi-staged approach to developing an understanding – as a community – of our vision for our region. In this profile, information is provided about Fort McMurray: its status as the hub of the oil sands region of Alberta; demographics; labor force; social services; and infrastructure. Information in this document is based on numerous studies that have been completed for the RMWB over the past five years, including the 2005 Wood Buffalo Business Case and socio-economic impact assessments completed for oil sands projects.

Communications.tallgirl 20:04, 15 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

pictures

Are the pictures appropriate for this article? There just pictures of people in Fort Mac. They don't show any landmarks (a weak case could be made for the arial picture),and really don't have any thing to do with Fort Mac. I could understand a picture of the bridges, or the big red provincial building, but not these. would anyone object to me removing them? Bawolff 05:17, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I agree, keep pictures that show off Fort Mac in all its glory (heh), but remove pictures of people who could be located anywhere. --Yamla 07:26, 2005 Feb 27 (UTC)

I removed them. hopefully i'll be able to get a good picture(s) soon. Bawolff 01:58, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

added picture

I added a picture of the provincial buildings. Does it look okay? Bawolff 03:39, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

"in all its glory".......laughing my ass off

history section

Quite incomplete with no references to Fort Mac - just Fort Chipewyan. Any helpers? Svelyka 22:03, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've just expanded the History section greatly. Most of it is from The History of Fort McMurray website. (check out the timeline!) Hope that helps. NorthernFire 00:15, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The history section seems to stop at 1986 or so, and makes no mention of the fact that with the significant increase in energy prices since 1999, there has been massive growth in Ft. McMurray and surrounding areas. If you only read the history section as it is now, you might conclude that the city is a decining area, which is certainly not the case! Some mention of the recent difficulties (housing prices, infstructure, etc.) as a result of the sudden growth would probably also be useful.--Wee Charlie 20:28, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how "recent difficulties" would fit in an historical section. --Kmsiever 20:53, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

railway

The aging railway between Fort McMurray and the capital is also in need of improvement, which would allow for the movement of more heavy loads to take place away from the highway, and possibly allow for passenger service as well.

The railroad used to take passangers, but no one used it so it was shutdown. this sentence also seems a little speculative. Bawolff 02:58, 6 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Recently the Railroad company linking Fort McMurray to Boyle (which then connects to the national carrier) went out of business. Athabasca Northern Railway (A.N.Y.) does not exist after failing to find support to pay for the $100M upgrade to the right of way. As such, Fort McMurray no longer has rail service. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 156.101.1.5 (talk) 21:59, 27 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

recent edit

Could also be changed to "one of the highest prices in Canada" although my provided reference does not mention that.

Change "hamlet" to "community"?

Just an unrelated question. Anyone up for changing the word "hamlet" to "community"? I propose this since a hamlet refers to a very small community (less than 1000 people usually). However, I did not want to change this as it has been here for a while. Yes? No? Lharvill 01:32, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

agree - Qyd^(talk)02:15, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

agree - Zxz 21:58, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

disagree - Yamla 22:42, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. I believe hamlet is a technical term. What's the technical term for communities of Fort Mac's size? If there is one, we should consider using that instead of the vague "community". — Saxifrage ✎ 22:31, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hamlet is the technical term. See Hamlet (place) which mentions Fort McMurray by name. --Yamla 22:42, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, so it's not just size, but a designation that's given by a higher branch of government. — Saxifrage ✎ 22:51, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Disagree: I believe you are referring to term 'village', which has a population between 300–1,000. According to Alberta Municipal Affairs, a community is not assigned hamlet status because of size. "The council of a municipal district or specialized municipality can designate an unincorporated community that is within its boundaries to be a hamlet. A community can be a hamlet if it consists of 5 or more dwellings, has a generally accepted boundary and name, and contains land that is used for non-residential purposes."[1] A hamlet is simply an unincorporated community, which Fort McMurray became when it merged with Wood Buffalo. --Kmsiever 00:20, 18 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is not true. I am a journalist and I phoned the Wood Buffalo office to get Fort Macmurray's legal status. According to their amalgamation agreement, Fort MacMurray is NOT a hamlet. It is an "urban service area" and is treated as a city in terms of funding.

You can read how to cite your information at WP:CITE. --Yamla 22:09, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fine I'll cite my story when it's published. But where is the citation that it IS a hamlet? The only link saying that is dead, so any references to it being a hamlet are actually uncited. I'm going to believe the regional administration and delete the hamlet references.

reference #2 (fort mcMurray today - hamlet)

Is a dead link. (Ft. McMurray today redesigned their site a while back. I think it has something to do with them being bought out. (I think). Anyways, I can't find an equivalent link to the story. Bawolff 07:12, 30 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yet another reason why it is better to use the cite template instead of just a link. --Kmsiever 15:48, 30 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Alberta Municipal Affairs (2007). "Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo". Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) says: "Hamlets/urban service areas within the municipal boundary". I supposse "urban service areas" referes to Fort Mac. --Qyd 23:31, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When incorporated?

When was it incorporated? Kevlar67 03:36, 17 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Depression in Fort McMurray

How come there is no mention of how horrible this town is? There are more people depressed in Fort McMurray than anywhere else in Canada and the ones who aren't and have lived there for several years are missing a part of their brain