McMurray's message gets marginalized
Column: Gimme Some Grammar appeared in Fort McMurray Today Sept. 8, 2006
By MICHAEL HALL
Today staff
Does this region get the respect it deserves? I don't think so.
Here's an example of the attitude.
In a story in the Edmonton Journal looking back on the beginning of Ralph Klein's 14-year term as Alberta premier, reporter Jason Markusoff wrote recently: "Metro Edmonton boasted more people than Calgary, and Fort McMurray was largely irrelevant."
There were 90 million barrels of oil produced by Syncrude Canada and Suncor Energy in 1992. That's a heck of a lot of oil by anyone's measure.
Conventional oil production was on the decline and that however it worked out -- that part wasn't clear then -- the oilsands with almost untold reserves was the future.
Any analysis that concludes this region and its resources were irrelevant is flawed. Hopefully it wasn't just arrogance talking in the article, but lack of knowledge.
But it shows how Fort McMurray's message gets marginalized so easily in the provincial capital.
* * *
I caught the following in former Today publisher Don Sinclair's regular contribution in the Saint (Albert) City News.
Many of you who've been around McMurray for awhile will remember Sinc. He went on from here to become a vice-president in our parent company before leaving to become a consultant.
In his Sept. 1 column (it's entitled The Things I See, and Hear, and Think), he includes a letter from a reader.
"On: Naming rights
"Hi, Don. With naming rights being a hot topic in the last few weeks -- The St. Albert Leisure Centre and its rinks (the original proposal was to remove the Mark Messier name from one of the ice surfaces, but that decision was reversed), along with the new children's hospital in Calgary -- here is a suggestion for a lasting honour for our outgoing premier. Why not rename Highway 63 to Fort McMurray 'Klein's Way?'
"Liz Samson, St. Albert."
Sinc says: "Just what do you have against Highway 63, Liz?"
Funny stuff.
* * *
Our link to the south is becoming more important all the time. We're hearing about how places like Lac La Biche, Athabasca and Boyle are quickly growing because of McMurrayites who can't afford to live here relocating to the smaller towns.
I can't imagine a three-hour commute each way, but I guess some can. I haven't been following the housing market in those centres, but it could easily be half the price to put a roof over one's head.
The end result? More traffic on Highway 63.
It's going to spread out over all seven days of the week, around the clock.
That's why I was so pleased to see four of the new Alberta sheriffs patrolling 63 last Friday on a trip south to Edmonton between here and the Lac La Biche turnoff.
They were in two pairs and three of them had someone pulled over.
I slowed down to 60 km/h, as the law now requires, although the move didn't agree with at least one car behind me that quickly loomed large in my rear view mirror. I guess he or she didn't get the memo on slowing down when passing emergency vehicles with lights flashing.
And boy, do they flash. The new sheriff cruisers are configured differently than the RCMP cars. The lights seem to be much brighter -- a good idea on a busy highway.
The call to put these additional enforcers on the job was the right one, and I believe traffic is safer today as a result. My only quibble? We need more.
Highway 63 is unlike any other in the province. Why there aren't more deadly crashes like the recent collision near Boyle is a mystery to me. I was just about involved in a couple in one trip south and back to McMurray. If I hadn't taken evasive action, I might be another statistic.
Bring on the law.
* * *
Fort McMurray is back in the news again. As usual, there are TV crews and reporters circulating almost every day. Tours of the plants to show off the oilsands are keeping staff busier than ever, from what I hear. Reporters from the Calgary Herald are back, too. Oh, goody.
The latest issue of Chatelaine gives this region a going-over in an eight-page story entitled Down & Dirty in Fort McMurray.
Despite the rhyming headline, it's mostly accurate. Like almost any overview, while the focus is on drugs, hookers and the imbalance between the numbers of men and women, there's tacit acknowledgment of the fact this community is overwhelmingly a normal family town.
I'm troubled by the sexist treatment of Mayor Melissa Blake, however. Her marital status is pointedly featured in the story. Other articles have focused on her physical appearance.
Why?
I never saw former Mayor Doug Faulkner's marriage brought up in stories in the past, or his separation near the end of his time in public office.
Too many reporters come here with their stories pre-written. This is a bad place, filled with criminals, drugs and alcohol, to the exclusion of other things. That's the reputation we have.
The Chatelaine piece gives better attention to the fact we're mostly normal. The reporter has relatives here.
While there are negative elements in Fort McMurray, like anywhere else, isn't the real story the oilsands?
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
By MICHAEL HALL
Today staff
Does this region get the respect it deserves? I don't think so.
Here's an example of the attitude.
In a story in the Edmonton Journal looking back on the beginning of Ralph Klein's 14-year term as Alberta premier, reporter Jason Markusoff wrote recently: "Metro Edmonton boasted more people than Calgary, and Fort McMurray was largely irrelevant."
There were 90 million barrels of oil produced by Syncrude Canada and Suncor Energy in 1992. That's a heck of a lot of oil by anyone's measure.
Conventional oil production was on the decline and that however it worked out -- that part wasn't clear then -- the oilsands with almost untold reserves was the future.
Any analysis that concludes this region and its resources were irrelevant is flawed. Hopefully it wasn't just arrogance talking in the article, but lack of knowledge.
But it shows how Fort McMurray's message gets marginalized so easily in the provincial capital.
* * *
I caught the following in former Today publisher Don Sinclair's regular contribution in the Saint (Albert) City News.
Many of you who've been around McMurray for awhile will remember Sinc. He went on from here to become a vice-president in our parent company before leaving to become a consultant.
In his Sept. 1 column (it's entitled The Things I See, and Hear, and Think), he includes a letter from a reader.
"On: Naming rights
"Hi, Don. With naming rights being a hot topic in the last few weeks -- The St. Albert Leisure Centre and its rinks (the original proposal was to remove the Mark Messier name from one of the ice surfaces, but that decision was reversed), along with the new children's hospital in Calgary -- here is a suggestion for a lasting honour for our outgoing premier. Why not rename Highway 63 to Fort McMurray 'Klein's Way?'
"Liz Samson, St. Albert."
Sinc says: "Just what do you have against Highway 63, Liz?"
Funny stuff.
* * *
Our link to the south is becoming more important all the time. We're hearing about how places like Lac La Biche, Athabasca and Boyle are quickly growing because of McMurrayites who can't afford to live here relocating to the smaller towns.
I can't imagine a three-hour commute each way, but I guess some can. I haven't been following the housing market in those centres, but it could easily be half the price to put a roof over one's head.
The end result? More traffic on Highway 63.
It's going to spread out over all seven days of the week, around the clock.
That's why I was so pleased to see four of the new Alberta sheriffs patrolling 63 last Friday on a trip south to Edmonton between here and the Lac La Biche turnoff.
They were in two pairs and three of them had someone pulled over.
I slowed down to 60 km/h, as the law now requires, although the move didn't agree with at least one car behind me that quickly loomed large in my rear view mirror. I guess he or she didn't get the memo on slowing down when passing emergency vehicles with lights flashing.
And boy, do they flash. The new sheriff cruisers are configured differently than the RCMP cars. The lights seem to be much brighter -- a good idea on a busy highway.
The call to put these additional enforcers on the job was the right one, and I believe traffic is safer today as a result. My only quibble? We need more.
Highway 63 is unlike any other in the province. Why there aren't more deadly crashes like the recent collision near Boyle is a mystery to me. I was just about involved in a couple in one trip south and back to McMurray. If I hadn't taken evasive action, I might be another statistic.
Bring on the law.
* * *
Fort McMurray is back in the news again. As usual, there are TV crews and reporters circulating almost every day. Tours of the plants to show off the oilsands are keeping staff busier than ever, from what I hear. Reporters from the Calgary Herald are back, too. Oh, goody.
The latest issue of Chatelaine gives this region a going-over in an eight-page story entitled Down & Dirty in Fort McMurray.
Despite the rhyming headline, it's mostly accurate. Like almost any overview, while the focus is on drugs, hookers and the imbalance between the numbers of men and women, there's tacit acknowledgment of the fact this community is overwhelmingly a normal family town.
I'm troubled by the sexist treatment of Mayor Melissa Blake, however. Her marital status is pointedly featured in the story. Other articles have focused on her physical appearance.
Why?
I never saw former Mayor Doug Faulkner's marriage brought up in stories in the past, or his separation near the end of his time in public office.
Too many reporters come here with their stories pre-written. This is a bad place, filled with criminals, drugs and alcohol, to the exclusion of other things. That's the reputation we have.
The Chatelaine piece gives better attention to the fact we're mostly normal. The reporter has relatives here.
While there are negative elements in Fort McMurray, like anywhere else, isn't the real story the oilsands?
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
1 Comments:
Well the Oilsands ARE the core principal of all that is unsustainable... It is an empire of unsustainability, which directly refuses all that offers real solutions. With even a fraction of the time energy and resource that we spend causing damage there, would could of all been off the grid 10 years ago. People don't want to know that, because then not a day of their lives here would be justified. Whatever you do, don't convince yourself that this is necessary in any way.
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