The Yukon’s biggest killer
After a series of columns on fiscal policy, I thought readers this week might enjoy a new topic: cancer.
Grading the budget
Premier Sandy Silver brought down his first budget last week. Now almost six months since he was elected, many were keen to see how his campaign speeches translated into budget reality.
Do the North Koreans know Rotary Park is a nuclear free zone?
If conversation at your dinner table ever gets dull, I suggest you pull out a globe and challenge someone to stretch a rubber band to show the flight path between North Korea’s nuclear launch sites and Chicago.
Commissioner Jim Smith: The end of an era
Legendary Yukon Commissioner Jim Smith has died. He was 97.
Northern Cross drops a $2 billion bomb on YG
Northern Cross’s lawsuit against the Yukon government’s fracking moratorium could work out to about $60,000 per Yukoner.
Alaska’s $3 billion budget hole
Unlike its Alaskan cousin, the Yukon legislature never invites economists to present their views while it deliberates the budget. After viewing the Powerpoint presentations Alaskan economists recently made before the Alaska Senate’s labor and commerce committee, I can see why.
Silver’s upcoming budget mid term test
Expectations are high for Premier Sandy Silver’s upcoming budget. By the end of April, it will be almost six months since he was elected premier.
One picture worth a thousand economic words
Despite all the bad Powerpoint out there, every once in awhile you see a chart that tells the whole story in one glance.
Sandy Silver’s first 100 days kind of a snooze fest
New Yukon Premier Sandy Silver’s first 100 days in office wrapped up earlier this week. The first 100 days are a critical time for a new government, especially one elected on a “change” mandate.
Just hang on: satellites are coming to save suffering internet users
I have to admit I was wrong. I have been harping about the need to build a backup fibre optic cable since 2011. I argued we needed to escape from the tyranny of Fort Nelson’s backhoe operators.
Is your organization’s government grant on the ‘review’ table right now?
“Over the next two months, my government will be carrying out a review of spending priorities,” said new Premier Silver’s first speech from the throne.
Air travel economics put territorial government in a carbon tax bind
Not only is Air North attacking the incumbent in the airline business, but now the feisty insurgent is also trying to muscle in on the Yukon economics market.
How to make it in the Yukon’s gig economy
How would you like to be your own boss, work your own hours and pay for your Yukon lifestyle with lucrative contracts you get via a convenient app on your smartphone?
Yukon Energy’s new plan is impeccably researched, but it’s worthless without action
Yukon policy wonks got a treat this week in the form of Yukon Energy’s release of the final parts of its resource plan.
Roses are red, violets are blue, the two most terrifying words for a bureaucrat are ‘project review’
To most of us, the words “program review” are just routine bureaucratic jargon. But to senior officials, they sound a lot like an air raid siren.
New players in the Arctic game
The hottest Christmas board game in our house was 2019: The Arctic, which my son bought at Titan Gaming on Main Street. Each player is the CEO of a global oil company.
The Yukon’s nuclear option
By candlelight and over hot Lindemans at an off-grid cabin this Christmas, some friends and I debated nuclear power in the Yukon.
Silver risks irrelevance on offshore exploration ban
There was some bad news for the Yukon’s long-term constitutional development while you were sipping eggnog and decorating the Christmas tree.
New Year’s debt resolutions
It’s an extreme example of the old saying that, just because someone is willing to lend you money, it doesn’t mean you are smart to borrow it.