Ryan Leef has his work cut out for him.
The Yukon needed a strong and experienced voice on the Hill in Ottawa.
The next four years is not a good training ground for a fledgling MP. His inexperience and naivete will be at the cost of Yukoners.
And it will cost us hundreds of millions.
Just prior to the election, the Conservatives tabled a budget with over $300 million in cuts to funding in the North.
With a Conservative majority, those cuts will go ahead.
And a fledgling MP just learning the ropes will have little power or sway in the federal Conservative apparatus.
The years between 2011 and 2015 will be filled with further cuts to services that the people need while the Conservative government attempts to gain control over the massive deficit it created while pandering to the big businesses and industries that fund them.
In 2014, the federal government will be renegotiating the transfer payments under the federal health act.
The complexity of the issue demands an individual well-seasoned in the machinations of Ottawa politics.
It’s doubtful Yukoners will experience the same level of health care they currently enjoy under this new negotiation.
For the sake of this territory, I hope Leef is a quick study to the often cruel and always complicated political sphere on the Hill. And I hope he has the fortitude and integrity to represent the interests of all of the Yukon people, and not become another cog in the political apparatus that put him there.
Emily Smith
Whitehorse