The Yukon Party is drawing attention to what it calls a “bloating” public service at the cost of the private sector under the governing Yukon Liberals.
Recent data published by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics shows the number of jobs in government has “far outpaced” the number of jobs with private businesses, according to a Yukon Party press release.
The number of jobs in the Yukon went up by 3,700 from July 2017 to July 2024, according to the stats.
Of those, 2,700 jobs have been in the public service and 1,000 in the private sector, which means that close to three-quarters of new jobs in the Yukon have been created in the public sector.
As noted in the stats report, public sector employees include those who work for a federal, territorial, municipal, First Nation or Indigenous level of government — not just the Yukon government. It also includes those working for a government service or agency, a Crown corporation or a government-funded establishment like schools, hospitals and libraries.
Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon is quoted in the release saying a “strong” private sector is necessary for a “prosperous and healthy” economy.
“Growing the public sector at the rate we have seen under the Liberals is not sustainable — there needs to be a much greater focus on creating the conditions where the private sector can grow and thrive,” Dixon said.
Dixon accused the Liberals of adding new regulations and red tape that’s allegedly burdening the private sector while adding more middle management and administration to the public service.
To back their statement, the Yukon Party’s press secretary provided several examples of policies and measures that have led to “new cost burdens and red tape” for private businesses.
Those include a rent cap and bans on no-cause evictions, the new Extended Produced Responsibility and accompanying changes to the recycling system, a ban on single-use bags at retailers and minimum wage increases tied to the Consumer Price Index. Other examples cited by the Official Opposition are delays in regulatory and licensing timelines for placer mining, regulations that cut the fuelwood season short and new regulations on cannabis retailers.
"It is time for a change to a government focused on enabling the growth of the private sector and focusing government resources on delivering front-line services,” Dixon said.
When the Liberals took power, 40.7 per cent of employed Yukoners worked in the public sector, according to the bureau of stats and cited by the Yukon Party. As of July 2024, that has climbed to 45.3 per cent.
Sandy Silver, the Liberal minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, wasn’t available for interview while attending the Yukon Forum on Sept. 5. Cabinet communications provided a statement in his absence.
“Conservative parties are known for cutting the public service — that’s a fact,” reads the statement.
“Public servants across the Yukon should reflect on which positions would be cut under a Yukon Party government. This question is concerning for public servants, and for all Yukoners who depend on vital services like housing development, health and social services, business support, education for our children and more.”
Cabinet communications said criticizing public sector growth using this data set is "misleading" since the data accounts for jobs across all levels of government.
The statement notes both government and the population have grown, and demand for public services has gone up. For example, more students enrolled in Yukon schools translates to new student support positions in coming years.
The Education and Health and Social Services departments have seen by far the highest level of growth in recent years across the territorial government, per cabinet communications.
A February 2024 report published by the Government of the Northwest Territories, and cited by cabinet communications, indicates the Northwest Territories public service went up by 27.3 per cent or 1,391 since 2019-20. That's compared to the Yukon which saw an increase of 5.2 per cent or 269 full-time equivalents during the same period, according to information from the Yukon Public Service Commission.
The Yukon Bureau of Statistics provided to the News national data from Statistics Canada on public administration, which excludes schools, hospitals and utilities. A statistician mentioned it’s difficult to compare the territories to the provinces due to the population differences — each under one premier.
Per the national data, about 7.2 per cent of Canada’s workforce consisted of public administration workers in 2023. In the Yukon, that number was 32 per cent, compared to 29 per cent in the Northwest Territories and 32.1 per cent in Nunavut.
The Statistics Canada data suggests that Yukon public administration went up from 18.3 per cent of the territory's jobs in 2017 to 19.2 per cent in 2020, then dropped to 17.5 per cent in 2023.
In 2023, the Yukon had proportionally the most Indigenous public administration jobs at 9.3 per cent. For example, the next highest province or territory was the Northwest Territories at 5.7 per cent; Canada sat at 0.4 per cent in 2023, according to the Statistics Canada data.
Federal government administration workers made up 2.4 per cent of employed workers in the Yukon in 2023.
In 2023, local, municipal and regional public administration workers accounted for 2.8 per cent of Yukon jobs.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
