Reflections before
election day
Yukon politics are always interesting.
I was saddened to hear that Pat Duncan is leaving politics.
She has survived the storms in her career and I feel that most of the low points can be attributed to her colleagues or her handlers, not to her personally.
She has been the mainstay of ethics, integrity and morality of the Yukon Liberal Party. She will be sorely missed by that caucus.
All that remains is an unproven leader with questionable ethics as demonstrated in the poaching of two NDP turncoats, which now make up his own caucus.
These members are of uncertain loyalty given their opportunistic past performances. They will have to face their own voters on that issue.
As for the NDP they are about to face challenges of their own. The party has been badly split since their last leadership contest.
Now the winner of that may be facing an uncertain future due to his own personal health. This is a tragedy I would not wish on anyone.
The current government’s mandate is all but over and the NDP have no time to make changes even if they wanted to. Given the party stance on mining, oil and gas, and the preoccupation with social programming and labour issues.
I doubt if the sympathy vote will be able to trump the economy in an election platform or campaign.
Will the Yukon Party win by default? They have suffered some embarrassments yet I feel they are black eyes not knockout punches.
The porn probe was more a media storm to sell papers than a deathblow.
The Copperbelt MLA’s departure was caused by his own shortcomings and his reluctance to disclose it, rather than any Yukon Party actions.
The opposition and the media had to go 35 years into Dennis Fentie’s past to find something to criticize.
Sure, part of the current economic boom is generated by commodity prices. That could happen on anybody’s watch.
MP Larry Bagnell likes to take credit for the federal government’s handouts. They can also be tallied up in Fentie’s column.
We have not seen a second term here since I arrived in 1992. There have been settlements, land claim agreements, resource development agreements and studies commissioned for economic development in this government’s term.
No, we don’t have a new correctional facility, but I don’t know too many jurisdictions where prison populations dictate government policy.
The government is ready for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. It is funding training programs. I think that youth programming is more important than inmate populations.
The new government always spends the first year complaining how bad the books really look from the last guy.
The second year is spent dismantling existing programs.
The third year is fairly productive, spent setting up new programs.
The fourth year is spent trying to buy votes with the voters’ own money and trying to “not offend” anyone.
Things should prove to be very interesting in the months to come.
Neil Johnson
Teslin