Question 1 - Yellowknife is entering a significant economic transition as the NWT's diamond mining industry changes, with two mines now moving through closure while many of the major projects expected to create new economic opportunities are still several years from full construction. What should Yellowknife be doing now to navigate this transition and position the community for long-term economic success?

For the last eight years, the City has been at pretty much a standstill when it comes to making land available for development. As a result, home builders moved away, retired, shifted into commercial real estate, etc. A new generation can emerge, but it will take time. And it will also take time for the City to bring newly identified lands to market. So, in some ways, the fact that the coming investments are not immediately impacting us buys us the time we need to grow in a more controlled and better planned way.

To be ready for what’s coming, Council needs to ensure the Planning Department stops messing around with tiny, controversial infill developments and shifts focus, immediately, to large sections of land that were transferred to us long ago and for which at least some of the planning work has already been done. I think Niven Lake phase eight and Grace Lake South phases two and three fit the bill - and perhaps there are others. If we can get those to market as soon as possible, it will allow home builders to open up shop and hone their craft between now and 2030, when the real growth pressures will be upon us, and it will allow the Planning Department the time it needs to prepare the larger newly identified neighbourhood, Frame Lake North, for development.

The City should also give itself a second option for the longer-term growth of the City, in case Frame Lake North doesn’t pan out or is too expensive to develop. I think that second option is the Con Redevelopment Area, which has been scaled back in the latest Community Plan for reasons that I think are flimsy and require closer scrutiny.

Question 2 - Crime and public safety concerns are also creating direct costs for Yellowknife businesses through theft, property damage and increased spending on security and other measures to protect their employees and property. As a member of City Council, how would you address the impact these issues are having on the business community?

I recently had the unenviable responsibility of moving an encampment off of a client’s property, and the place was absolutely overflowing with what appeared to be stolen property: dozens of chopped up bikes, extension cords, building materials, propane tanks, BBQs, etc. I personally witnessed drug dealing, tenants have told me they have witnessed active prostitution, and this is to say nothing of the periodic fires that, for some reason, don’t even seem to get a mention by the media anymore.

Enough is enough. I don’t agree with the GNWT’s permissive approach to encampments, but if they are going to continue to allow them on Commissioner’s Land, it needs to do be done in a controlled and monitored way. They need to create a formal encampment, even if it means they have to lease City land in order to do so. And the sections of Commissioners Land that are not controlled, power line easements for example, should be subleased out to the neighbouring land owners so that they can enforce the incoming Trespass Act on those lands. And the RCMP need to get back to confiscating stolen property. The permissiveness needs to stop.

Meanwhile, the City needs a Behavioural Bylaw, to allow MED officers to intervene when they see intoxicated people acting aggressively or inappropriately in our public spaces and businesses. The feds, GNWT and City have a lot of work to do when it comes to improving the lives of the people who find themselves living on city streets, but that must not prevent us from also trying to re-establish an expectation of civility in our shared public spaces.

The City has a job to do in this area and it has not been doing it adequately. The next Council can get more done, but they need to be more courageous than the last few. Proceed with compassion, of course, but please proceed.

Question 3 - Yellowknife needs more development to support housing, economic growth and the long-term needs of the community, but development can involve difficult trade-offs and face barriers that prevent projects from moving forward. As a member of City Council, how would you approach growth and development in Yellowknife?

There are trade-offs and then there are trade-offs. Since 2018, Council has been telling us that we have to choose between protecting our valued pockets of green space here and there throughout the City or having adequate housing to meet demand. But this is a false "either or" scenario that Council imposed on itself and all of us by closing the door on greenfield development in 2018. It’s disingenuous for the City to keep repeating this false narrative.

A legitimate trade-off, however, will have to be made by people who live in parts of town that are naturally going to increase in residential density over time. People who own property downtown or near downtown may someday have a multi-family housing development next to them. This is a trade-off that I think most property owners understand and, while perhaps not all would be thrilled about it, in general they understand that this is how cities should change over time.

Question 4 - The major projects expected in the North will require a larger and more diverse workforce in the years ahead. How should Yellowknife prepare its residents and businesses to participate in and benefit from those opportunities?

If we don't have adequate land for new housing, when the big projects arrive, businesses will have no choice but to fly employees in and out of town. Those fly-in workers will pay taxes elsewhere, they will donate to some other city’s local charities, they will contribute to some other community’s social fabric. Once upon a time we only saw that type of thing from the largest of our companies, diamond mines, etc., but we now see it with smaller and smaller companies, because we have not been providing workers with the housing options they need in order to put down permanent roots here. If we have enough development-ready land to accommodate growth, then the workers, even if they are new to town, will become Yellowknifers, and we will capture the benefits of growth. If we do not have enough land, we will become more and more like a min