Yellowknife Centre MLA Will Join the Legislative Assembly's Executive Council After Great Slave MLA Nokleby Removed in Landslide Vote
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Cabinet goes Green Yellowknife Centre MLA will join the Legislative Assembly's executive council after Great Slave MLA Nokleby removed in landslide vote Online first at NNSL.com YK farmers open their doors Volume 49 Issue 46 FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 75 CENTS ($1.00 outside city) Close to the pin James McCarthy/NNSL photo Courtney Waugh, right, watches her putt head for the hole on the 14th green as teammates Vanessa Anikina, left, Natisha Goulet and Beth Hudson try to will it in during the Adlair Charity Women's Scramble at the Yellowknife Golf Club, Aug. 15. Lumber Former MLA Quarry shortage eyes NWT Restaurant hits Conservative gets back to Yellowknife nomination business $1.00 outside Yellowknife Publication mail Contract #40012157 "We did have a weird year in terms of what Covid did and that made things strange but everyone was great." 7 71605 00100 5 –Yk Fastball League president Garrett Hinchey after the season's final game, page 16. 2 YELLOWKNIFER, Friday, August 28, 2020 news YELLOWKNIFER, Friday, August 28, 2020 3 Did we get it wrong? Yellowknifer is committed to getting facts and names right. With that goes a commitment to acknow- ledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in Yellowknifer, call 873-4031 and ask to speak to an editor, or email [email protected]. We'll get a correction or clarification in as soon as we can. NEWS Briefs More health order violations Three more tickets have been issued for breach of self-isolation protocol in the North Slave region this week, chief public health officer (CPHO) Kami Kandola said in a press conference Wednesday. Due to privacy con- cerns, no further details about the tickets could be disclosed. Kandola reiterated the importance of respon- sible self isolation and taking responsibility to protect each other "as a territory." "This must be a grassroots, all in effort," she said. "It must be guided by the principle that as an individual, and as a society, we have a responsibility to keep each other safe." – Natalie Pressman photo courtesy of NWT Inclusion CEO leaves NWT Tourism COMPUTER DONATION Cathie Bolstad will leave her role as CEO Quinn Sanders, left, and the team at Computers for Schools donated four refurbished computers to Inclusion NWT of NWT Tourism at the end of December, after her resignation was accepted by the board of the this week. John Balamaga, right, with Inclusion NWT picked up the computers on Aug. 25. Inclusion NWT Employment directors, the agency stated Monday. Services provides employment services for any individual who self-identifies with any disability. "Cathie has advised that she will be leaving NWT Tourism … to pursue new projects and passions," said Harold Grinde, chairperson of NWT Tourism. Bolstad joined the organization as CEO in 2014 and worked to raise the profile of tourism Early morning downtown in the territory. She created new opportun- ities for Indigenous tourism partners, enhanced the agency’s marketing strategies, established international links and helped with solutions for strengthening tourism amid the Covid-19 car fire under investigation pandemic. The board aims to hire a new CEO before the year is over. – Blair McBride RCMP remind public of rights during Covid The NWT RCMP are providing officers with non-medical masks to use in on-duty situations where physical distancing may be difficult. As some people may feel uncomfortable being approached by a masked officer, the RCMP wants to ensure members of the public know they can ask to see police identification, said spokesperson Marie York-Condon in a press release Wednesday. RCMP officers will always be carrying at least one of the following identifying items: RCMP badge, RCMP photo identification, RCMP name tag on their uniform. "As we move into the fall season of this cur- rent pandemic, we want to assure the people of the Northwest Territories that public safety remains our focus," superintendent Jeff Christie said in the release. It is illegal to impersonate a peace officer under section 130 of the Criminal Code. Anyone caught doing so could face up to five years in prison. – Natalie Pressman Council shows support for cafe City of Yellowknife council showed support for a development application for a small cafe to be located at 4 Lessard Drive in Old Town. The location is occupied by Sundog Adventures. The proposal is permitted within the zoning Natalie Pressman/NNSL photo regulations of Old Town Mixed and the location has a history of food and beverage establish- Firefighters responded to a car fire downtown Thursday morning. ments, council heard. Council raised some concern about limited parking, however the city approved the applica- RCMP have characterized the blaze as 'suspicious' tion because there are parking options in the by Natalie Pressman extinguished the fire. There were no injuries anyone who may have noticed something area, the neighbourhood is walkable and there is Northern News Services though a nearby fence sustained fire damage. in the area of 49 Street and 51 Avenue early also a bus stop nearby. A small sedan erupted in flames behind In the press release, RCMP spokesperson Thursday morning to come forward", Staff Foods served like baked goods and ice cream the NWT Diamond Centre around 4 a.m. Julie Plourde said that Yellowknife RCMP Sergeant Yannick Hamel, said in the release. are expected to be brought from off-location, Thursday morning. "believe the fire could be suspicious in If you have information, contact Yellow- council heard.. Yellowknife RCMP received a call at nature." knife RCMP at 669-1111. If you wish to Council will vote on the cafe Sept. 14. approximately 3:56 a.m. for a vehicle parked The incident is being investigated by the remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers – Simon Whitehouse near 49 Street and 51 Avenue. The City NWT Fire Marshal and police. at 1-800-222-8477 or text: "nwtnutips" plus of Yellowknife Fire Division attended and "Yellowknife RCMP are encouraging your message to 274637. 4 YELLOWKNIFER, Friday, August 28, 2020 news Where has all the lumber gone? Supply chain disruptions lead to lack of lumber for Yellowknife retailers, builders by Blair McBride Northern News Services Yellowknifers working on their new deck or fence might struggle to finish due to a country-wide short- age of lumber products. For the city's two primary con- struction wood merchants, the situa- tion with treated lumber has been a "perfect storm" of high demand and high prices compounded by low supply. "We started noticing shortages in May. In June it started to become impossible to get treated lumber. It became super scarce," said Chad Lefrancois, assistant manager of Igloo Building Supplies. Lumber mill backlog "The mills were falling further and further behind. They did lay offs, then Covid hit, then they did more layoffs, then just as they were starting to get rolling again the first big flood of orders came in from people who had been at home. (Stores) had no way to fill them. Then the mill stopped giving us arrival times. They were delivering what they could when they could with no projected delivery dates." Prices shot up as well, with a standard sheet of half-inch plywood rising to $43.86 from $28.51, where the price stood in early July. "A 75 per cent increase on the Blair McBride/NNSL photo same product in six weeks. That's Levi Jones, owner of Side Jobs Contracting and Construction, helped build the wooden ramp into a portable at William McDon- not common at all," Lefrancois said. ald school. Lumber shortages are less of a problem when working on larger projects, he said. From his perspective, the effect has been varied. The supply prob- lems haven't affected Igloo's bottom basically over." Home Hardware since 1994. higher prices. OSB (oriented strand or seven-inch sheets. line very much but the ones really For a contractor like Levi Jones, "The speed the inventory got board) products, which in March feeling the pinch are local builders. owner of Side Jobs Contracting and depleted and the pricing going up, sold for $18 per sheet, now goes for Slow return of market Some have switched to build- Construction, lumber scarcity has I've never seen anything like this. $43 per sheet. To a casual observer, it might ing their home projects with spruce been an issue but it's less of a prob- It's usually very gradual and lasts One of the most popular wood appear that quick sales of in-stock and then painting or staining them lem for him because he tends to for a short period of time. Like a products, Radius Edge Decking for or freshly arrived products is good instead of using pressure-treated work on larger projects. hurricane of a massive mill closure, deck surfaces, sold at volumes four for the bottom line, but Corothers wood. "Any sizable project needs to or a rail strike – something like times higher than last year. The said that's not the reality. Others are opting to put their be planned ahead and materi- that causes a ripple, but nothing store won't receive another truck- "If we can't get the products project plans on hold for a while. als ordered three to four weeks in has caused a tsunami like this. It's load until midway through Sep- people need, they'll postpone their "Their travel budget that changed advance in order to run according to unprecedented. tember. projects or won't do them. The cost into a home project budget (because schedule," said Jones, who launched "I'm used to ordering and getting of the inventory is hard for us.