Tany Yao was first elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo on May 5, 2015, and re-elected on April 16, 2019, and May 29, 2023.

Prior to his election, Mr. Yao was a professional paramedic and firefighter working in communities like Lac La Biche, Peace River and Fort McMurray.

Mr. Yao is currently appointed as the Deputy Government Whip, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Northern Development and Chair of the Northern Alberta Development Council. Mr. Yao is also the chairperson for the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund as well as chair of the Oilsands Mine Watering Committee and sits on a number of Legislative Committees. He previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health and is passionate about making Albertan communities stronger and healthier.

Mike O’Kane founded Okane Consultants in 1996 to provide integrated mine planning, closure, and relinquishment solutions globally, while also developing solutions to support sustainable environmental assessments and mine permitting. He serves as Chair of Okane’s Board and continues to contribute as a senior technical advisor to the business, bringing deep expertise in mine permitting, risk management, closure planning, and design. 

Mike is widely recognized as a subject matter expert in mine closure planning, as well as in specific technical aspects of mine closure, including landform and cover system design, as well as in the application of unsaturated zone hydrology and geochemistry. He serves as a Director of the Landform Design Institute and as a Technical Advisor to the Board of Tersa Earth.  

He holds a Global ESG Competent Boards designation and received the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award in 2014 for global business development and philanthropy.

Monica has twenty-five years of combined engineering experience in mining geotechnique, dam safety, tailings and mine waste management, closure and landform design and field operations. With twenty years in key technical leadership roles in consulting, metals mining and oil and gas industries in Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, South America, Australia and Ghana.

International and local experience in influencing the strategic direction of global companies in tailings management. Experience and involvement in setting new strategies for global companies mostly in tailings management. Analytical thinker, collaborator and team player. Experience in successful interactions and relationship building with community of interest and regulators. 

Monica also served as the Chair and member on various COSIA (now part of Pathway Alliance) working groups and tailings technical expert and representative for various companies. Monica also served on the Mining Association of Canada tailings working group for the tailings management guide and subgroup such as the risk management and Engineer of Record subgroups. Monica is a member of the CDA Mining Technical Committee. Accomplished author of numerous technical papers on Tailings management, and enterprise risk in the mining industry. Experience in corporate governance, as a current director for a medical board, and Director at Large of a non-profit organization board. Monica is currently an independent reviewer for a Metals Mining Company and sits on an Industry Advisory board of a College in Alberta