I was intrigued by the Yukon Party candidate’s comments on the shenanigans on Black Street.
He suggested the city had made mistakes and, if he was MLA for Whitehorse Centre, he would get to work on it with the confidence that, “I can walk right into the office of the minister of Community Services and talk about dealing with the issueÉ.”
Mike Nixon’s argument is, essentially, that proximity to power means getting things done.
Nixon is probably a nice chap and his sentiments are all well and good, but his statement is extremely naive given the Yukon Party’s past performance.
When problems between municipalities and citizens have come up, Minister Archie Lang has a long-documented indifference to using his powers under the Municipal Act.
Matters like the cases involving Marianne Darragh and Angelika Knapp, in which Lang had every right to use his discretionary powers and find solutions that did not involve hundreds of thousands of dollars for court actions, were met with stone-cold silence from the Yukon Party.
I don’t dare question Nixon sincerely cares about the issues of Black Street residents.
But his assurances that he would march into the Lang’s office and get a deal done are nothing more than wishful thinking.
Drew Whittaker
Marsh Lake