I’ve been a downtown Whitehorse resident for most of the past 25 years, and I’m appalled at the fact that for the first time in all those years, I am without representation in the Yukon legislature.
We are fortunate in downtown Whitehorse to always have been extremely well represented, most recently by the late Todd Hardy, but also by Michael McLarnon, Margaret Commodore, Roger Kimmerley and Joyce Hayden, before the two central Whitehorse ridings were unified into one.
Premier Dennis Fentie reassures me and other Whitehorse Centre voters that we shouldn’t worry, that we will continue to be well represented in the legislature even though we are the only people in the Yukon without a person elected to represent us. I’d just like to ask Fentie this: Please name the person who is going to do this for the voters of Whitehorse Centre.
Is it himself, who has been less than forthcoming with voters on more issues than I have time here to enumerate? Is it perhaps one of the members of his caucus, who will adopt my riding and its concerns as their own, in addition to the issues presented to them by their own constituents? Will it perhaps be one of his caucus’ caseworkers or assistants? If so, I’d like to know who that is, as I have a number of concerns to discuss with them.
Now that the premier has ordered a September 21 recall of the legislature it’s all the more reason for calling a by-election in Whitehorse Centre, so that the candidates can get their nomination processes in order, and myself and all the rest of the riding’s residents will have an identifiable person in place in the legislature to carry their concerns forward. This is the way that democracies function, after all, with government by the people with direct representation, not by fiat or the benevolent dictatorship of Premier Fentie.
Are the premier and the Yukon Party elite afraid to call a by-election because they fear the results? And if so, are their fears enough to justify denying the people in Whitehorse Centre an elected representative? As the premier prepares to fade off into his political sunset, his failure to call the by-election is showing his true colours and those of the Yukon Party.
Brian Eaton
Whitehorse