I’m honoured and humbled to have been elected as Yellowknife’s next Mayor. My deepest thanks to everyone who helped, encouraged and supported my campaign. Thanks also to all of the candidates who put their names forward for Mayor and Council; it takes courage to run for public office and I was very impressed with the caliber of all the candidates.
Our community faces some big challenges in the years ahead, but I’m confident that by working together, we can meet these challenges head-on and make Yellowknife an even better place to live. I’m looking forward to working with our new City Council to address the issues that were raised during the election. Many important concerns were highlighted by residents over the course of the campaign, and I’m committed to making improvements at City Hall to ensure our local government strives to be open, transparent and responsive to the public.
Thanks again for the incredible support you’ve shown over the past six weeks. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work for the best community in the world.
The Polls are open today (Monday, October 15th) from 10 am to 8 pm. For a ride to your poll, call us at 446-9034 or email mark@mark4mayor.ca. For assistance with confirming your polling location, call 920-5667 or email cityclerk@yellowknife.ca.
Here are the polling station locations:
Poll 1 (Great Slave) – Ecole Sir John Franklin High School
Poll 2 (Weledeh) – Ecole St. Patrick’s High School
Poll 3 (YK Centre) – Northern United Place
Poll 4 (Frame Lake) - William McDonald School
Poll 5 (Range Lake) – Range Lake North School
Poll 6 (Kam Lake) – Multiplex Arena
Poll 7 (YK South) – N.J. Macpherson School
The Polls are open today (Monday, October 15th) from 10 am to 8 pm. For a ride to your poll, call us at 446-9034 or email mark@mark4mayor.ca. For assistance with confirming your polling location, call 920-5667 or email cityclerk@yellowknife.ca.
Here are the polling station locations:
Poll 1 (Great Slave) – Ecole Sir John Franklin High School
Poll 2 (Weledeh) – Ecole St. Patrick’s High School
Poll 3 (YK Centre) – Northern United Place
Poll 4 (Frame Lake) - William McDonald School
Poll 5 (Range Lake) – Range Lake North School
Poll 6 (Kam Lake) – Multiplex Arena
Poll 7 (YK South) – N.J. Macpherson School
Yellowknife was incredibly fortunate in the 1990s when, just as our gold mines were winding down, diamonds were discovered to the north. With the diamond mines’ inevitable decline just over the horizon, the next few years will be crucial in planning Yellowknife’s economic future. We cannot be complacent about the future of our local economy. We must be proactive to ensure that, in the short-term, our community benefits from mining activity happening elsewhere in the territory and across the border in Nunavut, and in the long-term, we’re exploring ideas that will diversify and strengthen the foundations of our local economy. And throughout, we must focus on making city services to the business community more effective and efficient. (more…)
If you’ve driven our roads, walked our sidewalks, or experienced a sewer backup due to a failed sewer main, you know that our critical infrastructure needs work. Yellowknife currently has an infrastructure deficit of approximately $60 to $70 million, meaning there is $60 to $70 million worth of infrastructure (e.g. roads, sidewalks, water and sewer pipes, etc.) that’s in dire need of replacement. While we’ve made some progress in the past year in closing this gap, much more needs to be done.
Last spring, Council passed a $20 million borrowing bylaw that will allow the City to begin repairing some of our critical infrastructure under an accelerated capital plan. The City has also completed an Asset Management Plan that seeks to aggressively address our community’s infrastructure needs over the long-term. I served on the Asset Management Task Force and worked cooperatively with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the NWT Construction Association and several other stakeholders to proactively develop a plan to address our infrastructure woes. (more…)
Meaningful engagement with our citizens should always be a top priority for Mayor and City Council. In my experience as a Councillor for the past nine years, I’ve seen how proper consultation with our residents can help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
The City has made some improvements to its citizen consultation and customer service over the past couple of years, but we can do more. A new model of neighbourhood engagement and consultation that was piloted with Kam Lake residents and businesses last year proved to be a very valuable way to collect feedback and get input on land-use issues that residents and businesses were concerned about. If elected Mayor, I would ensure that we continue to use this model in neighbourhoods throughout the city. There are several other communication and consultation tools that I would propose to Council to ensure our residents are heard on the issues that impact them, and to make Council more accessible, transparent and accountable. (more…)
