Fort McMurray—Lac La Biche

Fort McMurray—Lac La Biche is a newly created riding in northeastern Alberta, formed through the 2017 boundary redistribution by extending the former Fort McMurray—Conklin riding southward to absorb parts of the old Lac La Biche—St. Paul—Two Hills district. It encompasses the southern half of Fort McMurray — bounded by the Athabasca River and Clearwater River to the north — along with all of Lac La Biche County, stretching south to Kikino and Buffalo Lake. The riding sits at the heart of the Athabasca oil sands, the world’s third-largest proven oil reserve, and the regional economy is almost entirely dependent on bitumen extraction and related services. The incumbent was Laila Goodridge, who had won the Fort McMurray—Conklin seat in a July 2018 by-election following the resignation of former Wildrose leader Brian Jean.

Candidates

Laila Goodridge (United Conservative) — Goodridge was born and raised in Fort McMurray and graduated from Father Patrick Mercredi Community High School. She worked as a political staffer in Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, including as a constituency assistant for former Calgary—Centre MP Joan Crockatt. She was hired in 2016 to assist with disaster recovery following the Fort McMurray wildfire, and later worked as a Legislative Outreach Assistant for the Wildrose and United Conservative Party. She won the 2018 by-election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Jane Stroud (NDP) — Stroud was a three-term municipal councillor for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, representing the communities of Anzac, Conklin, Janvier, and Gregoire Lake Estates since 2010. She had lived in Anzac her entire life and worked in accounts for the local Metis organization in Fort McMurray. She was named a Woman of Inspiration by Girls Inc. of Northern Alberta in 2017. She had previously run for the NDP in Fort McMurray—Conklin in both the 2015 general election and the 2018 by-election.

Jeff Fafard (Alberta Party) — Fafard ran as the Alberta Party candidate in the riding. He was a veteran of previous political campaigns dating back to his time with the Progressive Conservative party.

Mark Grinder (Alberta Independence) — Grinder ran as the Alberta Independence Party candidate. He had been a resident of Wood Buffalo for over a decade and worked in the heavy trades.

Brian Deheer (Green Party) --- A Lac La Biche resident, Deheer represented the Green Party as its nominee in the constituency.

Local Issues

The community was still recovering from the devastating May 2016 wildfire, which destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings and forced the evacuation of approximately 88,000 people in the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta’s history. By 2019, rebuilding was well advanced but not complete, and many residents continued to deal with insurance disputes, mental health challenges, and the lingering effects of the disaster. The question of whether provincial and federal governments had provided adequate support for long-term recovery remained a sensitive topic.

The oil sands economy faced compounding pressures heading into the election. The price of Western Canadian Select crude had collapsed to below US$14 per barrel in late 2018, and the NDP government’s mandatory production curtailment imposed in January 2019 — cutting output by 325,000 barrels per day — was controversial in a community whose livelihood depends on maximizing oil sands production. While the curtailment succeeded in narrowing the price differential between WCS and benchmark crude, large producers and service companies warned of layoffs and cancelled contracts. The broader pipeline crisis, underscored by the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to quash Trans Mountain approval in August 2018, fuelled widespread frustration.

Fort McMurray had also been grappling with population and demographic shifts. The municipality had fought to limit temporary worker camps in favour of policies that would encourage oil sands workers to live in the community, supporting local businesses and tax revenue. Lac La Biche, at the riding’s southern end, had its own concerns around rural service delivery, healthcare access, and the economic spillover effects of oil sands activity on the smaller communities along the Highway 63 corridor.