A group of local business owners have stopped sponsoring the Fort McMurray Oil Barons (MOB) until changes are made to its leadership. 

In messages sent to the board and interviews with Fort McMurray Today, the sponsors say they are frustrated with shrinking ticket sales at games, the MOB’s community presence, few local players on the roster, a “revolving door of coaching staff,” the residency of some of its leadership and removing sponsors’ voting abilities. 

A letter signed by 14 business owners points out the MOB’s long-time president, David Fitzgerald, no longer lives in Fort McMurray and calls on him to step down.

The letter and follow-up emails to the board are written by councillor Stu Wigle, who is also the regional director for Earls Fort McMurray and a former team sponsor.

“I’ve got all the respect for Dave [Fitzgerald]. He’s got a great story, going from stick boy to president, but he’s not here anymore,” said Wigle in an interview. “It’s a side commitment now versus back in the day when he was at the rink every day. It’s time to pass on the torch.”

Fitzgerald disagrees that the MOB or himself are out of touch with the community. He disputed many of Wigle’s accusations and worries about how the protest from the sponsors will impact the team’s finances and reputation. 

In an interview, Fitzgerald said many of their complaints about the MOB’s bylaw changes were made in 2016, and that the sponsors are not voting members of the organization. 

He also disputed the accusations he no longer understood the community. Fitzgerald lived in Fort McMurray for 46 years, spent 38 years working for Syncrude and has been president of the MOB and the Northern Alberta Athletic Association for 10 years.

Bruce Ferguson, vice president of the MOB’s board of directors, agreed with many of the sponsors’ concerns but not with how they have handled the situation.

He agreed attendance is worrying compared to past seasons, but said the MOB are still in the AJHL’s higher 50 percentile for attendance.

The fundraising concerns are “fair,” he said, as is the MOB’s coaching turnover. He agreed the MOB has had fewer local players, but argued the team has tried recruiting talent in Fort McMurray.

Leaders of First Nations across Alberta slammed Premier Danielle Smith for not putting talks of a separation referendum to rest and emphasized their opposition to Bill 54, which lowers the threshold for citizen initiatives and extends the timeline to get those signatures to 120 days from 90 days.

Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in the Fort Chipewyan region penned a cease and desist letter in late April to Smith and accused her of stoking a separatist movement. He threw a copy of Bill 54 in the air and said “you’re garbage” to the papers.

Chiefs of the Confederacy of Treaty No. 6 First Nation said they cancelled their annual protocol meeting scheduled with Smith for Tuesday and said it will remain that way until she “changes her tone.”

Chief Kelsey Jacko of Cold Lake First Nations said for the Confederacy of Treaty No. 6 to meet with Smith, she needs to start thinking about First Nations and “lift my people out of poverty.”

Chief Troy Knowlton of Piikani Nation said any talk of separation is “really insanity” and said he spoke to Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson on Monday and told him the rhetoric being promoted by the province was “taken right out of President Trump’s playbook.”

At an earlier news conference on Tuesday, Smith said the province was a “number of steps” away from a referendum on separation and said the legislation is supposed to ensure the signature threshold for citizen-initiated referendums is “reasonable.”

Smith announced on Monday her government would not be putting forward a vote on separating from Canada, she acknowledged the likelihood of that happening in the future.

“We are well aware that there is a large and growing number of Albertans that have lost hope in Alberta having a free and prosperous future as a part of Canada. Many of these Albertans are organizing petitions to trigger a citizen-initiated referendum,” she said.

Alberta is also creating  a special negotiating team to square off against Ottawa and a new panel to discuss the province’s future within Canada.

The panel appears to be similar to the “Fair Deal” panel struck by then-premier Jason Kenney in 2019, which consulted Albertans on “strategies to secure a fair deal in the Canadian federation and advance our vital economic interests.”

Until then, Smith said the province will continue to negotiate with Ottawa on a number of demands, which echo those she had already stated in March.

Those include ensuring Alberta’s access to tidewater for energy exports, lifting the tanker ban off the B.C. coast, eliminating the emissions cap, scrapping clean electricity regulations, and abandoning the net-zero car mandate, among others.

Drumming and singing echoed throughout downtown Fort McMurray on Monday as hundreds of people marched past red dress hanging from trees, buildings and signs. People wore red and held signs honouring the memories of missing, murdered and exploited Indigenous people (MMEIP).

At a rally at Kiyam Community Park, Mayor Sandy Bowman reminded people 59 Indigenous people are missing or murdered. Chief Raymond Powder of the Fort McKay First Nation said many Indigenous people know someone who has been murdered or is missing.

He named Elaine Alook, Shelly Dene and Shirley Waquan as examples of women he knew who have been reported missing.

“The majority of our people that go missing… are the ones that are walking the streets. The majority of us don’t even like it when they come around because of their addictions, but they are our family,” said Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

Another woman missing is Janice 'Jazzy' Desjarlais, who was last seen crawling into a dumpster to sleep on Oct. 1, 2010. At around 7:30 a.m., her boyfriend walked to McDonald’s for a coffee and found a garbage truck had emptied the dumpster when he returned an hour later.

The RCMP spent nine days searching the landfill, but her body was never found. Four months earlier, Desjarlais had been evicted from a homeless encampment.

She told a Fort McMurray Today reporter at the time she prayed “every day to try and better myself. I really want something for myself and before I never cared. I’m ready to deal with problems and I’m really looking forward to it.” Sadly, those prayers were never answered.

The most recent Statistics Canada data found Indigenous people represented 27 per cent of homicide victims reported in 2022. The National Inquiry into the MMIWGS2 crisis found perpetrators are often “partners, casual acquaintances and serial killers.”

Statistics Canada also notes “Indigenous identity itself remained a risk factor for violent victimization of women which was not found for men.” Indigenous 2SLGBTQI+ peoples also report high rates of physical and sexual violence.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada reports Indigenous women are more likely to report physical and sexual violence as a child than men (14 per cent versus five per cent) and three times more likely to report spousal violence than non-Indigenous women.

The Alberta government is funding roughly $19 million towards a facility in Fort McMurray for children and teenagers facing complex mental health issues.

CASA Mental Health says the project will tackle critical shortages in mental health care in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region. The centre, called CASA House, is schedule to open by fall 2027.

The Wednesday funding announcement is part of a $75 million provincial commitment to fund similar CASA facilities in Medicine Hat and Calgary, as well as relocate an existing site in Sherwood Park.

The 40,000 square-foot, 20-bed building will offer long-term treatments, and includes an active role for families in the healing and therapy processes.

A day program offers youth therapy during the day and patients return home at night. The residential program is an overnight service for more intensive care.

Patients will be referred to CASA House by a family doctor. For prospective patients who do not have a family doctor, the organization is working on self-referrals or ways to connect patients with a physician that can help with referrals.

“A third of our beds are set aside for northern communities, which is not even remotely meeting the needs of what rural communities need right now,” said Blakley in an interview at the time.

“Kids are coming to us from the north, and it’s not good for kids to have to travel that far and it’s not good for them to wait that long.”

Wednesday’s funding announcement will quadruple CASA House beds in Alberta to about 80. Once fully operational, the centres will be able treat more than 300 young Albertans annually.

Katalin Loutitt of McMurray Metis joins people at Kiyam Community Park during a ceremony for Red Dress Day on May 5, 2025. The day honours missing, murdered and exploited Indigenous Peoples (MMEIP) on May 5, 2025.

Photo by Vincent McDermott/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

A firefighter from Alberta Wildfire flexes for the camera during a controlled burn near Saprae Creek south of Fort McMurray on April 24, 2025.

Photo by Vincent McDermott/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

Canadian petroleum producers are busy updating action plans and examining options to withstand the stress of oil prices marooned in the mid-US$50-a-barrel range and mounting economic turmoil.

Companies have been rolling out first-quarter results this week and detailing how they’ll navigate choppy waters created by lower oil prices, a tariff war, uncertain federal policies and a slowing global economy.

Some are starting to trim their capital programs or review discretionary spending, trends already underway in the United States.

Others are leaning on past efforts to pay down debt and lower operating costs to bolster their resiliency in anticipation of a future dip in a volatile commodity.

The Canadian industry is “not even close” to shutting in production, although there is an element of trepidation facing the sector, said Menno Hulshof, managing director of equity research at TD Cowen.

“There’s definitely a hunker-down mentality out there, because there are so many uncertainties,” said Hulshof.

“The majority of companies have a WTI break-even that is below the current (oil) price . . . We are not in panic mode. We’re sort of in a wait-and-see mode.”

Suncor reported net earnings of $1.7 billion during the January-to-March period, up five per cent from a year earlier. Suncor produced 853,000 barrels per day during the first quarter, and has not changed its forecast to spend about $6.2 billion this year.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook forecast that West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices will average about US$62 a barrel this year — below $59 during the second half — before averaging $55 in 2026.

It cited higher oil production outpacing demand growth for the price drop.

Other experts have reduced their oil price forecast below $60 a barrel after OPEC+ announced plans last weekend to bring additional supplies back onto the market in June.

“If you’ve been in this business long enough, you’ve seen this movie, it’s not new,” Suncor Energy CEO Rich Kruger told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday.

“You do get more judicious on your economic spend . . . Do we need to spend it today? Or can we let the dust settle and see where we are six months or a year from now? Those are the prudent things we’re doing and looking at.”

Police looking for man known to frequent Fort McMurray, Lakeland area

Police in Alberta are looking for Francis William Cardinal, 31, of Kikino. Investigators say has been known to frequent Fort McMurray and several other communities in northeastern Alberta, including Lac La Biche, Vilna, Spedden, Buffalo Lake, Cold Lake First Nation, Beaver Lake, Bellis and Buffalo Lake.

Staff Sgt. Sabrina Clayton of Wood Buffalo RCMP says Cardinal is wanted for multiple allegations of breaking and entering, robberies, firearms offences, possessing stolen property, failing to comply with release conditions and fleeing police officers.

He is 5’8″, 150 lbs, has brown hair and brown eyes. Police warn people should not approach him if he is spotted.

Prank call causes RCMP to shut down Wood Buffalo neighbourhood

A Fort McMurray neighbourhood was shut down for roughly an hour as officers were called to a potentially dangerous situation on Tuesday afternoon. But the emergency that mobilized police armed with C7 rifles to restrict area access turned out to be a prank call.

Cst. Matthew Howell, a spokesperson with Alberta RCMP, said police were called to the Wood Buffalo neighbourhood just around 11:30 p.m. after they were told of a potentially “high-risk situation.” Officers closed access to parts of the neighbourhood along Real Martin Drive as they investigated the area.

Howell said police quickly realized there was no emergency, but a search of a home was done “out of an abundance of caution.” Police left shortly after 12 p.m. No one was injured or arrested, but police are investigating the incident.

“Anytime a call like this takes away resources from the rest of the community, the rest of the community is at risk,” said Howell.

RCMP respond to fatal crash, multiple illegal OHV use complaints

Dirt bikes and off-highway vehicles kept Wood Buffalo RCMP busy last week after a 22-year-old man died in a Parsons Creek crash, while a drone was used to help arrest a 19-year-old man who was allegedly seen stunting and driving dangerously in Timberlea.

Police say that on May 1 at 9:20 p.m., emergency workers were called to reports of a serious crash on Heritage Drive. The driver of the dirt bike was in serious life-threatening condition and brought to the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. The man later died from his injuries.

Witnesses told police the man was speeding on Heritage Drive and hit the parked vehicle after losing control of the dirt bike. Police are not releasing the man’s name.

“Wood Buffalo RCMP would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased,” read a Friday morning statement.

At 8:45 p.m., a police officer reported seeing four people riding dirt bikes “erratically and stunting” on Tower Road. The riders drove away from police and officers used a drone to follow them to a greenspace on O’Coffey Crescent.

Three of the riders could not be found, but a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and fleeing a police officer.

At 7:45 p.m., police received multiple complaints of illegal use of off-highway vehicles on Confederation Way approaching Tower Road. Police were told between 20 and 25 people on OHVs and dirt bikes were speeding, driving erratically, cutting off vehicles on Confederation Way and doing stunts like wheelies.

Officers and a police drone arrived and reminded multiple OHV drivers about the rules of the road and where they are prohibited from driving. Police continued receiving reports of illegal OHV use around Tower Road, Confederation Way and Cartier Road.