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ABOUT ME

A lifelong Northerner with a passion for the North

I was born and raised in the North - this has been and will always be my home.  I am raising a family here and am passionate about promoting and making the North a better place to live.  This love for our beautiful city and for the North is the reason I am running in this year's Territorial election - I want to contribute and make a positive impact.

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We are coming up to a critical phase in diamond mining, a significant driver for our economy.  To ensure that we are not caught flat-footed in determining what comes next for our economy, we need to take action now.  Focusing on providing better supports to mining and further diversifying our economy, will be critical.

I have spent the last 15 years taking on progressively more senior roles within the mining industry.  During this time, I learned a great deal about the mining industry, gained a solid business background, worked hard at developing relationships with individuals in all sectors, and have paid attention to the goings on of our Legislature.

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With my experience, my drive to get things done, and my passion for the North, I am committed to working hard to make positive change.  I hope you join me on this journey and allow me to work for you to make a difference during the 19th Legislative Assembly.

PILLAR 1

The Economy & Cost of Living

• Mining

  • Creating the right incentives and environment for mineral exploration and development

  • Focus on developing regulations that support exploration and development while ensuring benefits are seen throughout the life of a project

  • Completion of land claims to build more certainty in the mining industry, and others

• Diversification

  • Continue marketing Aurora tourism, but also build marketing around current non-peak periods

  • Incentivizing private sector tourism product development​

  • Expansion of the Yellowknife Airport - extension of the runway, building of a hotel

• Cost of Living​

  • Assessment of all taxes for residents and the basis for taxes​ is critical to determining whether they are effective or perhaps doing more harm than good

  • Infrastructure development, in particular Talston and the Slave Geological Province Corridor, will be important to reducing the cost of living and making the North a more attractive place to invest

PILLAR 2

Northern Healthcare

• Stanton Hospital

  • Additional resources required to adequately staff the hospital

  • Adequate resources means we are more likely to be able to offer currently unavailable treatments / health services to better utilize our state of the art infrastructure

• Drug & Alcohol Treatment​

  • A Yellowknife-based treatment centre offering residential treatment and outpatient aftercare is critical to addressing many social issues we are seeing in Yellowknife and across the North​

  • Centre must offer supports to address mental health issues, including residential school-related impacts

  • 'Made in the NWT' approach to cultural representation in treatment content including on-the-land programming

PILLAR 3

Educating Northerners

• Our Youth

  • We need to invest in more teachers and support staff to reduce class sizes and ensure special needs are met

  • Day care and after school care must be re-assessed - availability of these services must be increased and costs need to be more affordable

  • 'Made in the NWT' approach needed in order to address obstacles impacting graduation rates

• Polytechnic Institute​

  • Must be based in Yellowknife to ensure we are able to attract ​not just the right calibre of talent to head up departments but also students from other jurisdictions

  • Focus program offerings on fields of study that align with professions that we typically have difficulty staffing from within the NWT

  • Build partnerships with various industries to support work placements and hiring, increasing likelihood of retaining people for the long-term

PILLAR 4

Environment

• Environmental Protection & Remediation

  • Development must be done in a way that minimizes the impact on our environment and it must be responsible

  • Need stronger partnerships with all key stakeholders to address concerns, adjust expectations and make changes to regulations

  • Need to become experts at remediation to truly be able to lead remediation efforts in the future and ensure benefits remain in the North

• Renewable Energy​

  • Must ensure greater investment in renewable energy across the North, including wind, solar, biomass​

  • Talston Hydroelectricity Expansion Project important to improving access to renewable energy and reducing green house gases

  • Partnerships with the Federal Government, industries, Indigenous groups and other jurisdictions key to seeing this much-needed infrastructure

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