Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, time and time again I have heard from constituents and residents of their concerns with the proposed location of the polytechnic university. Although the Minister pointed me to the Facilities Master Plan Engagement Report to explain how he chose Tin Can Hill, I feel as if he engaged on the criteria of a site without really thinking of the operational and, more importantly, the emotional implications of this site. Mr. Speaker there are real, practical concerns with the Tin Can Hill site.
Traffic to the campus would be directed along School Draw Avenue or cut through Copper Sky Apartments. Neither of these entry points are prepared to handle the volume of traffic that would be involved with a university and pose serious safety issues for my constituents living there. Housing will be seriously impacted given the limited Yellowknife rental market. The apartments in my riding are sitting at practically zero vacancy with overcrowding issues. How do we intend to house students while also ensuring that residents, who live in my riding, are not pushed out given the plan calls for 50 percent of students to find market housing?
I worry for my constituents, including many longterm pensioners and lowincome families residents who are already struggling to keep up with our skyrocketing cost of living. I worry that they will be forced from their homes due to rising rents and neighbourhood gentrification.
The Minister has said the Tin Can Hill MOU is not legally binding and that things will be flushed out with consultation. However, Mr. Speaker, I think we need to be more innovative and forward thinking with the selection of the university site. One option I want explored is the capital site which encompasses this Assembly as well as the museum.
The capital site represents a more sustainable and strategic parcel of land for the university, not only from a traffic, growth, and housing perspective but also from a recreational land use perspective; that emotional piece I was mentioning earlier.
Mr. Speaker, I want to highlight that the Facilities Master Plan Engagement Report does not transparently reflect how the Tin Can Hill site was chosen and how engagement occurred. It is a flawed plan that does not adequately address the practical realities of the area, the limited accessibility by road, and the potential emotional and physical impacts on residents' health and wellbeing at the loss of such a treasured, valued green space in the backyard of my community that I love, Great Slave.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
