Skip to content

Committee on electoral reform set to meet next week

The MLAs forming the committee will look at options for the Yukon’s election system.
27867641_web1_IMG_2026
A woman heads in to one of the polling stations to vote in Whitehorse on Oct. 21, 2019. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News file)

A government committee will sit next week to look at options for how the Yukon could change the current electoral system in the territory.

The Special Committee on Electoral Reform was established on May 26, 2021. The three-member committee is composed of NDP Leader Kate White, Yukon Party MLA Brad Cathers and government house leader John Streicker.

The committee will be holding virtual public hearings from Jan. 21 to Jan. 31, speaking to experts on electoral reform to try and inform any actions the government might take in the territory. The committee must complete its work before the 2022 fall sitting of the legislature.

Witnesses being called for the committee include political science experts from the University of British Columbia, University of New Brunswick, University of Prince Edward Island, University of Toronto and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

The committee will also speak to officials from Fair Vote Canada, a lobby group for proportional representation. More locally, Maxwell Harvey, the chief electoral officer of Elections Yukon, will also take the stand.

The committee’s researcher Keith Archer will also be asked to present on options for the Yukon’s system.

Contact Haley Ritchie at haley.ritchie@yukon-news.com