Citizens provide valuable input on Community Growth
The Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) is pleased by the community’s outstanding response to a community engagement initiative, my Community my Voice, to assess the satisfaction of Wood Buffalo residents with their quality-of-life.
The Chamber received a total of 1009 completed questionnaires and over 3347 individual comments and opinions on the quality of life in the Wood Buffalo Region. Community members who responded to the questionnaire represent the core of our community. Many of them are long term residents who want to be involved in the growth of the community they call home.
“ One of the best measures of a region’s quality of life is the successful engagement of its citizen; we have heard from you loud and clear that, you, the residents of our community, want to be involved in the decision making process and want to be kept informed and engaged with issues relating to our community’ said Kim Farwell, Chamber spokesperson.
“It is pleasing to see that most of the respondents rated the overall quality of life in the Region as good or excellent and are proud of their community although frustrated with its poor image. There is recognition of Government investment in the region however there appears to be a level of disappointment with development and progress of the region and the length of time it takes to complete projects” said Ms. Farwell.
The respondents consistently single out Emergency Services, Roads and Maintenance, Water and Sewage Treatment and Planning and Development as local issues. Healthcare, Education, Highways and Affordable Housing are the most critical areas of concern related to Provincial responsibilities.
47% of the respondents favored increase in fees / taxes to improve services compared to 53% who preferred to cut taxes and reduce costs and services; many of these respondents spoke to the reallocation of resources to meet service goals rather than increase taxes.
The respondents have indicated an interest in receiving additional information on the investment by the Government of Alberta, more information on the RMWB budget and more information on the Chamber.
The Chamber had stated at the commencement of this Initiative that it will create a plan to “Move Forward” with the results and respondents’ requests, and it has:
- The Chamber will first and foremost share the results of the initiative with all citizens, stakeholders and levels of government. The results will be posted on the mycommunitymyvoice website and the Chamber website. All related individual comments will also be posted on the website on the Questionnaire Report page – www.mycommunitymyvoice.com/questionnaire.html
- The Chamber will continue community engagement by redesigning the mycommunitymyvoice voice website to encourage an ongoing discussion and interactive communication. This will provide a constant venue for citizens to interact and voice their opinions.
- The Chamber will invite local citizens to form a citizen’s action committee to enhance communication between citizens and all levels of government and stakeholders to jointly develop a plan to prioritize and address community growth.
The Chamber will post the Terms of Reference for the Committee on its website (www.fortmcmurraychamber.ca) and the mycommunitymyvoice website (www.mycommunitymyvoice.com/news.html) and invite residents to contact the Chamber office at 780 743 3100 for more information.
The Chamber is delighted to have initiated MyCommunityMyVoice and will continue to serve its members and the citizens.
The growth of our community starts with the power of your voice.
