In the next territorial election, Yukoners must not vote for a majority party government. What we have in the Yukon is a facade of political party ideologies. Many individuals who put forward their name as a candidate for a specific party really have no specific beliefs in the philosophy of that party. What you have are individuals crossing all party lines hoping that the party they have crossed to will be the winning team in the next election.
During the last few years in the Yukon, there have been at least 15 MLAs and potential MLAs who have crossed from one political party to another. Recently, we have witnessed individuals moving from one party to the next claiming that the party they had already declared for did not meet their expectations and that they are good friends with other party members.
Our former premier once ran as an NDP and when he saw a vacuum in the Yukon Party he bolted to that party and became premier stating all along that he was a closet conservative. Every one that has crossed party lines during the many governments that we have had stated that the party they are moving to is closer to their ideals.
What we are seeing is a stampede of “wanna-be” MLAs who are crossing party lines in the belief that their team is going to win the next territorial election. From my point of view, the Yukon population is too small to have one party dominate the future of the Yukon. We need a variety of thoughts and debate to make good decisions for all Yukoners, not just for a group of party hacks.
What Yukoners want to see in their legislature is co-operation, consensus building and transparency in their government. We have had too many elected dictators that do what they want and not what the people want.
The only way to ensure that we do not continue to repeat this scene again is to not elect a majority government. The Yukon’s history of majority party governments has demonstrated that before the election the party leaders talk team work and consensus building, but when they become the ruling party we get a “one person government” under the absolute authority of the premier.
The elected MLAs become redundant to the leader and are used as pawns in the goals of the premier and his/her non-elected buddies. The only way we can change this style of government is to ensure that no one party gets an absolute majority. This would force the elected MLAs to co-operate and truly work as a team for the benefit of all Yukoners and not just for the specific party faithful. This type of government would include all political stripes and would return true team work for the benefit of all.
This would also force the government to investigate and look at other forms of electing our MLAs that truly builds on the majority of Yukon voters and it would make voting meaningful to all Yukoners.
Don Roberts
Whitehorse