1. What in your experience and background makes you the right person to shepherd the Northwest Territories’ economic development through the next four years?

I worked in the private sector in the North for 35 years. As a journalist and editor at Northern News Services Ltd., I covered and directed news focus on business with quite a number of specialty publications. The flagship of these was Opportunities North, a product which was essentially a marketing tool for the GNWT and the business sector. We covered virtually all industries, from oil and gas to trapping, government business support programs to population numbers and GDP. It was a three-section annual publication that still acts as a valuable marketing tool showcasing the true scope of Northern business. We also had annual construction specials, oil and gas (when there was an industry), and two territorial mining issues covering NWT and Nunavut.

In June 2018, I was appointed CEO of Canarctic Graphics, the largest Northern printer and sister company of NNSL as well as CEO and Publisher of NNSL Media, the largest media group in the NWT. Combined there were over 60 employees with five offices across the NWT and Nunavut. My mandate was to return the company to profitability. This I accomplished within two years, largely reorganizing assets and cutting costs with no layoffs. With the passing of the co-founder and then owner of NNSL and Canarctic, I was given the added tasks of keeping the company profitable and finding a buyer.

I accomplished both, ensuring jobs for staff, newspapers for the North. I accomplished all of this in an industry undergoing a massive transformation due to global giants dominating the advertising industry and forcing the shutdown of half the newspaper and media operations in North America. I achieved this success during a pandemic that ravaged the business community as much as it did the population.

My method is to understand every situation by speaking to the people closest to it, evaluating a plan, looking for opportunities, adjusting as needed, moving past the inevitable unexpected, and emerging with results, ready for the next challenge. That’s the essence of business success. It can be applied to government except the public service is ruled by a rigid accountability process that requires a team effort to make effective. It can be done, but leadership must provide a management style that allows for initiative, reasonable risk taking and personal responsibility. Above all, we must instill an understanding that the growth of the private sector is a measure of government staff success.

2. As an MLA what action will you take to increase land availability within the City of Yellowknife? 

As an MLA will you commit to the expedited transfer of all lands in the municipal boundary, under the administration and control of the Commissioner of the NWT, to the City of Yellowknife?

I have looked into the problem of the land transfers from the GNWT to the City of Yellowknife. What should be a relatively easy process has turned into a quagmire our elected leaders - the Yellowknife MLAs presently in cabinet - are allowing to cripple an already fragile Yellowknife economy. Why they don’t provide answers about the timelines and date of the land transfer is baffling. I could get into the details of the issue, as I understand it, but the bottom line is the public and business community are being kept in the dark on the timeline which creates uncertainty. I will, within the bounds of parliamentary protocol, stand in the assembly demanding first information, then action on the land transfer. I will leave you with a quote by a senior official who was tasked to answer the question the Minister was afraid to answer in the legislative assembly:

February 28, 2023

MR. O'REILLY: Thanks, Madam Chair. Maybe  I'll just be really specific here then. Is there actually going to be any land transferred from GNWT to the City of Yellowknife before the end of this Assembly? Thanks.

DEPUTY MINISTER: Thank you, Madam Chair. The work that we've been doing has been ongoing for a number of years. We anticipate it will take a while yet.

3. As an MLA or member of Cabinet how do you plan to address and facilitate economic immigration into our region to promote economic growth and job opportunities?

First of all, we must recognize, in a very public, informed manner,  the broad diversity we have (and have had for some time) in the NWT and Yellowknife coming from all over the world. We must celebrate our existing immigrant population. Word of mouth, the best marketing tool of all, will become a powerful draw for more to come. The process for immigrating to the NWT is largely controlled by the federal government and their rules such as the labour-intensive, time-consuming Labour Market Impact Assessment. The GNWT Department of Statistics report on the employment rate for August 2023 pegs employment in Yellowknife for 25-54 year-olds at 98 percent.  No relief there. We have to lean on our federal MP to exempt the city from the LMIA process. The GNWT can also help by offering literacy and language training supports. The main thing is, every new employee Canadian Northern business attracts to come North of 60, $37,000 is added to GNWT federal transfer payments. Some of that money should be invested to help businesses attract more.

How will you support the integration of newcomers into our unique northern communities?

This is a much bigger issue than it may first appear. First we have to recognize what immigrants can bring to our smaller communities. These are people who are generally educated, experienced in the career of their choice and are ambitious or motivated enough to leave their homes and countries to find a better life, many thousands of miles of both geography and red tape away. But the GNWT has been neglecting the communities and regional centers for decades. While they are located in beautiful settings with an abundance of land, water, culture and good will, in terms of housing and infrastructure these are not attractive places to be. Rebuilding the  communities is part of my platform. We have to upgrade these locations if we want to attract new people and keep the people we have. One other important point, a top priority of my platform is that we must provide proper daycare services  - both affordable and available - to allow families to cope with the higher costs of living, both inside Yellowknife and outside Yellowknife.

4. As an MLA what specific steps will you take to support and strengthen the local/northern construction Industry? 

A pillar of my platform is building and renovating public housing in the communities, something our local companies know how to do as well if not better than the Southern construction giants we often compete with. It’s essential for the future of the NWT that we upgrade the infrastructure in these communities where unemployment is high while education and income levels are very low. With the exception of Norman Wells, these communities were not built as Yellowknife was, based upon minerals or any resource base. They are administrative centers of old begun by churches and the Hudson Bay Company, two once powerful  - one religious and the other business - empires that have long lost their dominance. Now government dominates, our GNWT and federal governments. We have to rebuild these economies. That’s why Canadian taxpayers fund the GNWT to the tune of $2.5 billion and 6,000 staff.  Developing our mineral resources through increased mineral exploration will have more buy-in if people in the communities are educated and trained sufficiently to take part in the enormous benefits that can be realized. The diamond mines have shown communities the power of a paycheck and Yellowknife  businesses have directly benefited. Community workers buy trucks, stay in hotels, get their hair done and eat in our restaurants. The more Northerners trained, the more staffing choices for our construction industry plagued with a shortage of tradespeople. We can recruit in the South for sure but we also have an untapped workforce in the North. It is the responsibility of the GNWT to train that potential workforce. It will take time but now is the time to start.

5. As an MLA how will you look to leverage remediation projects so that associated jobs, work, contracts, innovation stay in, and benefit, the NWT?

The remediation industry is new, unlike the mining industry that created and has sustained the private sector in the NWT for the past century. But in many ways, it is still mining - highly technical with a range of employment and contractor opportunities. It’s going to require the type of effort attempted when the diamond rush was on and later when Covid hit - a task force of industry and business, including Indigenous business leaders. But, it won’t work unless we have MLAs with business experience. I assigned the general manager of NNSL’s print division to sit on the Covid business task force. I was made aware of the frustration of poor communication and lack of commitment by the government to engage and take direction from the business community which resulted in few results if any. We can learn from those mistakes and establish a pipeline from the task force to cabinet to ensure clear two-way communication. I will be a voice for such a task force and will bring together many like-minded voices to marshal public and industry unity and support.

6. As we look to diversify the NWT’s economy, what economic growth opportunities do you see inherent in Yellowknife’s airport?

Do you think it is time to transition the Yellowknife Airport to an airport authority model allowing for greater flexibility to invest in infrastructure, improve services, and manage their finances? 

Now is the time to revive the concept of the airport authority and make it a reality. It can be a valuable tool for growing the economy in the critical aviation and transportation sector. There was a government dominated advisory group formed a few years ago but that died because the GNWT is not a business body and interest waned. A new advisory group is in the works reporting directly to the minister so there is hope they can make some headway. The airport has land it can leverage to attract aviation, tourism services and expediting operations serving the mining and exploration industry. Cold weather testing has been an idea floated for about two decades. We should collect all the GNWT data, upgrade it and task the private sector to look for the global opportunities we know are out there. The tourism industry is already experiencing a revival after covid and the wildfires and the Airport is our front door. Emphasis must be put on customer service and tourism promotions. New screens have been added to the terminal which will help frame the NWT experience for incoming visitors, both tourism and the business travellers. With barging disruptions due to low water levels and unpredictable sea ice conditions, servicing the communities by air will become even more critical. Wholesale operations can be valuable for reducing costs to the end consumer. Expanding military usage above and beyond the Forward Operating Location and the 440 Squadron should be a priority of the GNWT. Our success in the above areas will help us lobby the federal government for a new terminal.

7. As an MLA how will you make downtown Yellowknife a more attractive place for tourists to visit and for future business investment? How do you view the intersection between homelessness and public safety?

Creating healing options in the communities, where most of our people struggling with addictions, unemployment and homelessness downtown are from, will take pressure off Yellowknife streets. That’s job one and can be done with modest investment. The healing camp behind the Field House run by the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation is one such effort that should be available throughout NWT communities. Then we can build other support in the regional centers and Yellowknife, and finally get healing going on a broad basis. Secondly, Yellowknife has not leveraged its designation as the capital of the NWT, the homeland of the Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit. These cultures are unique to the world yet we are largely ignoring the opportunities presented. Driving into our city and through downtown, no one would know what we are the capital of and who we represent. I am fully supportive of the city’s proposed concept of a cultural center downtown on the 50-50 lot. Such a cultural center could bring together so many opportunities under one roof - a tourism destination showcasing Dene, Metis and Inuit culture. It’s been done in Whitehorse and Iqaluit. We are already paying a southern corporation enormous lease fees in the present less-than-desirable location downtown. We have a library in another part of the deserted mall complex that can be sold as office space and moved into the cultural center with it an impressive Northern collection of books. A group in town is working on a Northern art gallery destination. It all fits together, we just need the will to make it happen.

You can do more of this on my website at NWT2023.ca. Thank you. Please vote on election day.

8. As an MLA, what concrete steps will you take to build the collaboration necessary to implement comprehensive solutions to these issues?

What accountability measures will you commit to implement to ensure meaningful action takes place to address these issues?

City council and Yellowknife MLAs should be talking and working together publicly as they represent the same people at different levels on many of the same issues. They can have informal talks but should have scheduled meetings with council, perhaps at the regular Monday afternoon Governance and Priorities Committee meetings, every quarter. There should also be scheduled public meetings between the GNWT cabinet and the NWT Member of Parliament MP, similar to meetings with the Indigenous governments, which should also be public to inspire confidence we are working together, and to air any differences of opinion. Again, there is mutual interest in similar issues but a negotiated solution may be required to move forward. If this election period is any measure, the non–governmental organizations and non-profits, from the Chamber of Mines to the NWT Disabilities Council, are not shy about reaching out to MLA candidates, to inform and lobby for support. Such engagement should be encouraged with MLAs during the life of the assembly. The more discussion and interaction that goes on between all parties, the relationships built around shared concerns, the better. And the transfer of knowledge is a big one, sometimes revealing how policies and programs may be failing to deliver, which can suggest better solutions. Accountability will be one benefit of public discussions as the public will be more informed and these days have no end of methods to express their views.