With the 45th federal election slated for April 28, SA国际影视传媒 has asked each of the candidates for NWT MP to answer the same five questions. These are the responses from Conservative contender Kimberly Fairman. 

If elected, what are your three main priorities as MP?

The first priority for me is to help make our communities safe. For the last 10 years, too many offenders have been released on bail, only to commit more crimes, harm more people and traffic more drugs. The Conservative platform is simple: jail, not bail. Repeat offenders will serve their sentences instead of being released again and again to commit more crimes each time.

I will also work to empower Indigenous communities to have more control over our economic development and full stewardship over our own lands. More communities will be given the authority to develop and invest locally in ways they see fit. More control over local investments means more wealth and prosperity, and the freedom to support their communities and protect our cultures, languages and ways of life.

I also want to see more Northerners making powerful pay cheques with jobs in their own communities. Too many of our young people leave the Northwest Territories because they canSA国际影视传媒檛 be trained in the NWT, or they canSA国际影视传媒檛 afford to complete their apprenticeships in the North. If I am elected, more young people can access grants for education in the trades, finish their apprenticeships in the North and stay with their families in their own communities.

What is your plan to reduce the cost of living in the NWT?

Our platform has introduced several ways a Conservative government will help reduce the cost of living. The first is to axe the carbon tax, once and for all. WeSA国际影视传媒檝e seen how a carbon tax stifles local investment: itSA国际影视传媒檚 an additional expense for business owners, it takes more money out of the pockets of Canadians, which makes it harder to buy food, gas, and everyday things we take for granted.

Conservatives also want to encourage municipalities to reduce the red tape preventing permits for builders who want to build new homes. Yellowknife alone has one of the lowest vacancy rates, meaning families are waiting months, sometimes years, for a suitable family home. We need more family homes in Yellowknife, and across the NWT, and a Conservative government will help get rid of the bureaucratic obstacles to make building homes faster and easier.

What is your plan to boost employment opportunities for Indigenous people in the NWT?

Every single person in the North deserves opportunity. It shouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 matter if you live in Yellowknife or in the communities. The best way to do that is to boost our economy so that Northerners have good jobs available and to expand training so that Northern youth can develop their skills. I want to encourage skilled trades training, and to increase fairness for trade workers by allowing travelling trades workers to write off the full cost of food, transportation and accommodation. Distances are big and our population is small, so people often have to travel to get to a job site.

Conservatives are also going to encourage investment in our economy by proposing zero capital gains taxes on people who reinvest in Canada. We want to encourage investment to stay in Canada so we have the money to build things here. WeSA国际影视传媒檒l repeal anti-development legislation like Bill C-69 (to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act) so we can access the rich resources on our own lands and make communities wealthier by allowing Indigenous communities to keep federal tax revenues for resource projects on their lands. Our goal is to bring back billions in reinvestment that was driven away from Canada over the last decade, and to get a good share of that coming back to the Northwest Territories.

Between the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Great Slave Geological Corridor, which infrastructure project is more important and why?

Both projects are important. People in the Northwest Territories are concerned about their fellow communities. Everyone in the North wants solutions for our economy, wants jobs for young people and wants an economy that will support our aspirations, and both projects are part of that vision. At the same time, we also need to ensure that the effect from the projects is positive for communities and that the plans fully consider community needs and community perspectives. We should not have to choose between the two.

Would you commit to the federal government pushing the GNWT to eliminate the Business Incentive Policy (BIP) to reduce trade barriers with other jurisdictions in Canada? Why/Why not?

That is a decision for the GNWT. My goal is to make sure that the Northern industry and economy is growing in a self-sustaining and dynamic way, including by unleashing our resources and our immense potential to create jobs and opportunity here at home.

Correction: The final question has been revised to reflect its intended meaning: to reduce trade barriers. SA国际影视传媒 apologizes for any confusion.