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Misstatement after misstatement

In a letter written by Premier Darrell Pasloski on Aug. 16, he declares "With the Yukon Party, your health is in good hands." I believe he is living in his own imaginary world where fairies can dance on pinheads, too. Wha

In a letter written by Premier Darrell Pasloski on Aug. 16, he declares “With the Yukon Party, your health is in good hands.” I believe he is living in his own imaginary world where fairies can dance on pinheads, too.

What we have seen during the last 10 years of Yukon Party government is misstatement after misstatement in their quest to manipulate Yukon voters.

Where is the $35 million invested by the Department of Finance in asset backed paper? Have we lost this money in the financial market?

During the last 10 years we have seen this Yukon Party government continue to convince Yukoners that we are debt free. The Yukon Hospital Corporation has borrowed over $100 million for rural hospitals that are over budget and behind schedule. The operation and maintenance of these hospitals will be twice the current costs for nursing stations. Yukon Energy has already borrowed over $100 million to complete Mayo B and are now set too borrow an additional $34.5 million to build LNG generators.

This $34 million should be spent on wind, solar and bio-mass generation, rather than fossil fuels, which will continue to contribute to climate change.

Yukon taxpayers now owe lending institutions over $200 million in loans and this debt will continue to grow.

Do not believe Mr. Pasloski when he says we are one of only two jurisdictions in Canada which is debt free. Remember Crown corporations belong to the Yukon taxpayer and we are responsible to pay all debts incurred by these institutions.

This Yukon Party government also promised Yukoners that they would be involved in developing our oil and gas future, but the committee studying fracking in Yukon will only visit two communities. If fracking goes ahead all Yukoners will pay the environmental cost.

During the past seven months, Yukoners have been bombarded with requests for comments on LNG plants, water strategy, YESAB applications for LNG generation, 3D seismic survey, and now for a response on the environment. Is the intent of the Yukon Party to continue to confuse Yukoners and to do as they please with resource development?

The latest misstatements concern the Yukon Party government’s refusal to release the numbers from the survey about the proposed plans for the Peel watershed. Currie Dixon, the Environment minister, says the numbers don’t matter obviously because those numbers don’t support the Yukon Party government’s position in favour of resource extraction in the Peel watershed.

These are outrageous actions which tell us some politicians will say and do anything to keep power. What we need from our politicians is honesty and transparency. They must tell the truth and must consult with Yukoners throughout their mandate and not just at election time.

We need a new government that will be open and transparent and will truly look at renewable energy, and electoral reform.

We cannot continue with this “top down” approach to making decisions.

Don Roberts

Whitehorse