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Liz Hanson acclaimed in Whitehorse Centre

The Leader of the Official Opposition will represent the NDP again in the upcoming territorial election.
hanson

The Leader of the Official Opposition will represent the NDP again in the upcoming territorial election.

Liz Hanson was acclaimed for the riding of Whitehorse Centre at an NDP nomination meeting on June 23.

She was first elected in 2010 during a by-election and was re-elected during the last territorial election.

Asked about how confident she was the NDP would form the next territorial government, Hanson said she was optimistic but she that never assumes “the outcome of any process.”

“We’ve been working hard as the Official Opposition,” she told the News on Monday.

“Based on that we’re going to continue to work hard.”

There are currently six MLAs sitting in the NDP caucus.

To form a majority government the party would need at least four more MLAs.

“We have a good group of new people coming on who share the same vision for a territorial government that needs to build a resilient economy and that isn’t subject to the boom and bust cycle,” she said.

The NDP benefits from not having rotated its critics, unlike the Yukon government, she said.

Premier Darrell Pasloski shuffled his cabinet twice during his term, in August 2013 and in January 2015.

“We’ve focused on getting to know the insides of issues as it relates to various departments and agencies,” she said.

“It’s easier to share that with the new folks coming in than it is to start from scratch.”

She insisted on the need to diversify the economy through more investments in tourism and small businesses.

She heavily criticized what she said was the lack of consultation by the Yukon Party government on major issues, citing the Peel watershed land use plan and the construction of the Whistle Bend continuing care facility.

“What the Yukon Party has been attempting to do over the last 14 years is to make a decision and try to find evidence to back it up,” she said.

“It cost us financially and in terms of good will.”

Tamara Goeppel is the Yukon Liberal Party candidate for the riding.

The Yukon Party has yet to announce its candidate.