Open letter to Premier Dennis Fentie,
I write on behalf of Yukoners who feel let down by you not involving them in your Yukon Party government’s decision to negotiate the privatization of their public assets.
The joint position paper released by former Yukon Energy Corp. chair Willard Phelps proved you were actively involved in secret negotiations to sell Yukon assets to Alberta interests despite your repeated denials and false assurances to the very citizenry you represent.
The public strongly disagrees with your unilateral decision to sell our energy assets, resulting in lost control of our energy future, YEC jobs and revenue leakage from our territory’s economy.
In addition, the paper also revealed you were secretly inviting ATCO to make certain other investments. One of them involved our water resources.
This is a startling revelation given statements by ATCO president and CEO Nancy Southern, your secret negotiating partner. When launching a new subsidiary last October, she said there was “great opportunity” North of 60. ATCO’s water division builds infrastructure, including pipelines, to deliver water to a market where “demand is relentless.”
Yukoners deserve a full and honest explanation given the potential for huge consequences.
Specifically, would this secret scheme have involved the selling-off, trading, giving-away of any water resources or franchising away our water rights?
Just how far were you prepared to go in privatizing the territory’s prized assets?
Gary McRobb, MLA - Kluane
Liberal Party