The candidates: Yellowknife South
CBC News | Posted: September 17, 2019 4:00 AM | Last Updated: September 17, 2019
Caroline Wawzonek and Gaeleen McPherson vie for Premier Bob McLeod's former seat
Election day in the Northwest Territories is Oct. 1, and CBC North is working to bring you all the information you need to cast your ballot. As candidates were announced, CBC provided each an opportunity to answer a questionnaire tackling a wide range of subjects, from their own qualifications to themes impacting their riding and the territory as a whole.
Read their responses below, presented in the order they were received by CBC.
Some answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Gaeleen MacPherson
Why did you decide to run for office?
I am running for office because I think change is needed in my community and the territory. I believe I have the necessary skills, background and experience to help provide some of the solutions to the many challenges we face including an uncertain economic situation, the need to improve our public services, providing education and training opportunities for our youth and addressing the social issues that affect too many of our residents.
What previous experience would you bring to the role of MLA?
I was born, raised and educated in the North. My family lives here and I am raising a family here. I've worked for much of my career in the mining industry and have held a number of progressively senior positions, including most recently vice-president of corporate affairs and a member of the executive committee for Dominion Diamond Mines.
In those roles, I have had to work with senior executives from multinational corporations, with territorial and federal politicians and officials, with Chiefs and communities, and with working folks trying to make ends meet.
My ability to work with people, build positive relationships and craft solutions to complex problems are the most important attributes that I would bring to the role of MLA in the service of the people of Yellowknife South. And frankly, I think our legislature needs more of that.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?
Of course, on a personal level, being a mom is my greatest accomplishment, and always will be.
However, on a professional level, I would say that being recognized by the Canadian Institute of Mining in 2018 with the CIM-Bedford Canadian Young Mining Leaders Award confirmed to me that the choices I made as a young, Indigenous woman to work and make a difference in the mining industry was the correct choice.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the territory?
Our territory faces many challenges, but I think the biggest issue is an uncertain economic future.
I say this because I think a stronger, more vibrant economy provides us with more flexibility to address other important challenges, such as building a stronger education system — including the polytechnic institute — or to invest in public services, including the training and recruiting of more health care professionals to staff the state-of-the-art new hospital that we have built.
What is the biggest issue in your riding?
From what I have heard so far in visiting constituents, the people of Yellowknife South worry about the state of the economy, how long they will have secure employment, when affordable day care will be made available, when we will adequately resource our health care facilities and provide adequate health care, what the government is going to do to support small business, services and programs for seniors, and the social issues that we just can't seem to get a handle on.
There are a broad range of issues being identified; the next government has a lot that they will be taken to task on.
If you could accomplish only one thing while in office, what would that be?
I would hope that when I left office, I would leave a community better off economically and a government that provides improved public services to all residents and that we can better take care of those in our society most in need.
What would you like to see the territory do to address the impacts of climate change?
I've focused a great deal on the economy in previous answers but as an Indigenous northerner, I feel strongly that we must ensure the environment and our wildlife are protected for generations to come. We need development, but it has to be done in such a way as to minimize the impact on our environment.
The one area that I would focus on immediately if elected is reducing our reliance on fossil fuels for industry and communities. We need to make additional investments in renewable energy, such as wind, solar and biomass, both in the short and long-term.
More importantly, we need to work with the next federal government to expand our hydroelectric capacity. A grid interconnect between the North and South Slave regions, and ultimately between the N.W.T. and the southern Canadian grid, will be one of my top priorities if elected. This will help to lessen our impact on the environment and to reduce our high cost of living.
What would you change about how the government currently operates?
Given the size and makeup of our territory, I am generally supportive of the consensus system of government. However, it seems clear that more must be done to address the increasing divide between cabinet and regular members.
I don't have a simple answer to this question, but a start is to elect more people that bring a collaborative approach to politics. Secondly, we need to use the committee structure in better ways to ensure regular members have input earlier in the legislative and policy development process.
What do you think the GNWT must do to improve and protect the territory's economy?
We need to ensure that we continue to support the mining industry. Mining has brought many benefits to the Yellowknife region and with the right focus and incentives we can ensure that we see these benefits for many more years.
However, we also need to focus our efforts on diversification of our economy, including the development of a sustainable tourism plan that attracts tourists to stay longer, encourages visits during current "off seasons" and results in more spending remaining in the North. The GNWT must shift focus from marketing to creating the right incentives for private sector tourism product development and improve our tourist infrastructure, such as improving and expanding the airport in order to accommodate international flights.
What would you do as MLA to improve the GNWT's relationship with Indigenous people?
We need to prioritize building collaborative partnerships with Indigenous governments. To do this, we need better forums that allow for a government-to-government dialogue to resolve some of the issues that exist.
While I also understand that more needs to be done to resolve outstanding lands and resource negotiations, I also appreciate that these are complex issues that will take time to bring to a full resolution.
I think my personal and professional background provides me with the skills needed to build and improve the relationships we have with Indigenous governments.
If elected, will you be seeking a cabinet position?
My complete focus at this time is on talking to the people of Yellowknife South, understanding the issues facing them and earning their trust to represent them as their MLA. While I understand that the selection of cabinet and premier are important issues, it is important that consideration of those offices wait until the people of Yellowknife South have made their choice.
Would you like to be premier?
See above.
Caroline Wawzonek
Why did you decide to run for office?
When I realized that this is an opportunity to bring my knowledge of different sectors and industries and my advocacy work together into a powerful new arena.
For over a decade, I have helped individuals, businesses and community organizations solve problems by navigating laws, regulations and policies. Sometimes I read a policy and wonder what connection it has to the goals of the government vision it came from; other times I read a law and wonder where the action is to act on the vision and be accountable for the outcomes.
Now I hope to be on the other side to support a strong vision for the N.W.T. and help drive the laws and policy to deliver on that vision.
What previous experience would you bring to the role of MLA?
I have knowledge and experience across industries and sectors. My professional work has ranged from criminal law and child welfare to our environmental regulatory boards and boards of education.
My community level roles include serving as president of the Law Society of the NWT, on the Executive Committee of the NWT. Chamber of Commerce and being a director on the boards of the NWT YWCA, NWT Montessori Society and Avens.
In terms of specific skills, my career is built on an ability to identify issues, gather information, make strategic decisions, advocate for an outcome and, throughout these processes, communicate with people. I work professionally with boards, tribunals and other government decision makers to help them develop fair and transparent processes and to make reasonable and ethical decisions.
I have trained a variety of organizations on the use of fairness when developing processes and on how to come to decisions that are accountable to the parties involved. I have also worked with community organizations to improve their governance through policy reviews, bylaw updates and projects that engage the perspective of the broader community.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?
In preparing for the election, I have been humbled to hear many people tell me that they know me by reputation. Throughout my career, I approach my advocacy, whether in court or as a community advocate, with integrity, commitment and passion while treating others with respect and fairness. I am proud of the reputation I have built.
On a personal level, I feel a sense of pride watching my children engage others with compassion and respect. I cannot take credit for all of their behaviour, but I do lay claim to some.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the territory?
Both short and long-term economic growth. The N.W.T.'s GDP is flatlining and exploration investment has decreased, despite increasing in our neighbouring territories. New mineral resource projects seem to remain ever on the horizon. Access to land remains uncertain for investors and challenging for municipalities, while land and self-government negotiations appear to stagnate.
The N.W.T. has long had both higher costs of living and higher operating costs for business compared to Canadian averages; these high costs of living put pressure on business for wages while high operating costs get passed to consumers in a cycle that we need to break.
Meanwhile, the impacts of a warming climate are being felt acutely from melting permafrost to eroding coasts and changing biodiversity. All of these realities need to be addressed and balanced for the N.W.T. to become a Canadian leader in economic development and prosperity.
What is the biggest issue in your riding?
After a week of knocking on doors, there are two key issues that my neighbours are talking about: economic development and how to positively impact the social challenges being seen on the streets of our downtown, especially homelessness, mental health and addictions.
Something that I think links these issues is the need for effective leadership that is accountable for measurable results. Four years ago, we already knew that our economy would face challenges when the diamond mines close with only smaller operations in the pipes and slow exploration investment.
As well, better supports for mental health and addictions was a key issue in the last election and in the government's mandate. From the outreach I have done over the last few months, I believe there are strong ideas and existing initiatives across sectors but there is a lack of confidence in effective leadership to follow through with outcomes.
If you could accomplish only one thing while in office, what would that be?
In consensus government, I believe it is better to go in with more than one "key deliverable" so you have flexibility to engage with the other MLAs about shared priorities.
I am reasonably confident we will agree on the need for continued efforts to bridge infrastructure gaps and settle land claims. I also suspect we will agree that mental health and addictions must again be a priority.
One issue where I would like to see change is for better results monitoring, so that after four years we will see not only what processes may be underway, but also clearly identify what measurable impacts have been achieved.
What would you like to see the territory do to address the impacts of climate change?
First, reduce our reliance on diesel fuel by: expanding both large and small scale hydro power; supporting biomass retrofits; and encouraging local equity partnerships for community-scale renewable projects.
I believe that the GNWT should take a leading and coordinating role in responding to climate change impacts and challenges. I believe the GNWT should lead an effort to include analysis of the impact of climate change on community and territory-wide infrastructure in order to be able to include these risks or realities in current and future planning for research, personnel and budgets.
Finally, I also believe we should try to use these challenges as an opportunity. In moving forward with a polytechnic university, the territory should be taking a leading role in initiating and supporting relevant research in Arctic climate science and related fields.
What would you change about how the government currently operates?
Real accountability for measured outcomes as identified through evaluation and data.
- Establish a collaborative vision.
- Support the public service to create an operational plan with measurable, incremental goals and an associated timeline to achieve each goal that includes both process and performance indicators.
- Provide a clear, specific point of accountability responsible for evaluating progress and evaluating incremental effectiveness on these indicators.
- Ensure that the accountable person or office has adequate authority to make changes as needed.
- Report publicly on the status of the performance indicators, incremental targets and on the ultimate goal.
What do you think the GNWT must do to improve and protect the territory's economy?
I believe we need to revitalize our mineral resource sector, support growth among northern-owned small and medium sized enterprise, and continue to seek opportunities to help diversify our economy.
Some of the specific ways I believe we can accomplish these goals include:
- We need to catch up on infrastructure across sectors, from communications, to transport, to energy. Our vision should be about nation-building and future-building for the N.W.T. If asked to choose a priority among all of these needs, I would focus first on energy. Providing cleaner, less costly energy through territory-wide projects, including both large=scale and community-level hydro, wind, solar and biomass could make resource development more economically feasible, reduce operating costs for all sizes of business, and reduce our carbon footprint.
- Ensure that our regulatory systems are responsive and streamlined. Regulations impact business development at all scales and across industries. Being "streamlined" should mean that small scale projects should comply with rules relevant to the scale of what is being proposed. Being "responsive" could mean that we commit to remove old rules before instituting new ones.
- The current procurement systems, such as the Business Incentive Policy, are not effectively supporting northern managed and owned businesses. I believe tax dollars should support northern managed and owned businesses that spend their wage dollars in the North.
- Provide better clarity about land access and certainty in land ownership to encourage entrepreneurship and investor confidence. I see two ways that the GNWT can support this: by prioritizing the settlement of outstanding land and self-government claims and shifting focus toward partnerships with Indigenous governments; and establishing a plan to transfer lands within Yellowknife's municipal boundaries to the city for the purpose of city planning.
What would you do as MLA to improve the GNWT's relationship with Indigenous people?
- Acknowledge the nation-to-nation relationship owed to Indigenous governments. Settle land and self-government claims and respect and fulfill the existing land and self-government agreements with an acceptance of the power sharing that will result.
- Undertake all constitutional consultation obligations as early as possible.
- Work with Indigenous governments and community development corporations to support training, education and equity partnerships in economic development projects.
- Respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action with accountability for outcomes.
- Ensure the government upholds its commitment to support the Native Women's Association of the NWT's submission to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples and responds fully to all of the Commission's final N.W.T.-relevant Calls to Justice.
If elected, will you be seeking a cabinet position?
If elected, my first priority will be to build relationships with the other MLAs so we can work together to create not only the best possible cabinet based on our respective experiences and strengths, but also have the right group of MLAs ready to hold cabinet accountable.
Would you like to be premier?
I think it would be helpful for the premier to have some institutional knowledge about the Legislative Assembly that is most feasible for a returning MLA. In addition, as noted above, my first priority if elected is to learn about my fellow MLAs so we can work together to identify who is best suited to different roles.