Dumpsters continue to have people fired up in the territory. Yukon NDP Leader Kate White has expressed a lack of faith in the minister in charge of the community dump file.
But she has expressed confidence in the people who work for him on the rural transfer station issue.
“There are meetings happening, which is the consultation, we see that happening from the officials,” she told reporters in the lobby of the Yukon legislature on Oct. 11.
“We see a different story, honestly, from the minister who’s saying that they’re going to close them.”
White’s party is currently propping up the government. She said it’s too early to tell if the Yukon government is upholding its side of the confidence and supply agreement between the Yukon Liberal Party and Yukon NDP caucuses. She gave a scenario in the minority government situation.
“If I put forward a motion that says that, like, ‘Do not close these facilities,’ I imagine that the Yukon Party would vote with me, and then the Liberals would have to deal with that,” White said.
“Am I prepared to? Absolutely. But do I have an expectation that the officials can work with communities to find a solution? I do.”
READ MORE: Possible dump shutdown gets Silver City residents fired up
The Official Opposition Yukon Party has also pressed the government on the closures, suggesting in the house that the territorial government had breached its end of the Liberal-NDP deal.
Last week, White tabled in the Yukon Legislative Assembly a letter to Premier Ranj Pillai signed by 130 residents of Silver City and the surrounding area against the closure of a waste facility in their community.
However, there appears to be a discrepancy in the community’s population, which Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said amounts to three people who are full-time residents. He said that’s in addition to the 20 people in Keno, less than 10 in Johnson’s Crossing and a business in Braeburn, the other three communities that are also affected by closures of the places they go to take their garbage.
In an email, cabinet communications provided photo evidence of what they called “illegal dumping” at the Braeburn station on Sept. 26.
“It is important to note the change to transfer stations is not in response to just illegal dumping — it is part of our government’s larger work toward a sustainable, modernized model for waste management in the Yukon,” reads the email.
READ MORE: Association of Yukon Communities clarifies involvement in waste management changes
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
