Some high school students will be hearing or have heard from Yukon MLAs from each territorial party with seats in the legislature during their Grade 10 social studies classes on democracy as the elected representatives return to the Yukon Legislative Assembly the first week of October.
As for democracy in action, during a Sept. 23 interview with the News at her party's office, Yukon NDP Leader Kate White said she foresees a fiery fall sitting under rising temperatures as the minority Liberal government nears the end of its term and with territorial elections looming in 2025.
White’s party has been effectively keeping the government in power through the confidence and supply agreement, or CASA, between the NDP and Liberals. The New Democrats put the Yukon Liberal Party on “notice” after the spring sitting, demanding the premier deliver on certain outstanding pledges in CASA.
Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon told the News during a Sept. 26 interview at his party's office that he doesn’t give much weight to the NDP’s threat of putting the Liberals on “notice” again. He said he’s lost track of how many times that has happened without repercussion.
“It's all talk and no action,” he said.
Dixon compared it to the federal NDP, which saw its leader, Jagmeet Singh, tear up its deal with the federal Liberals.
“One wonders why the local NDP haven't followed step,” he said.
With about 12 months left in his government’s mandate, Premier Ranj Pillai told the News in his office Sept. 24 about an “ambitious” legislative agenda for the fall and a supplementary budget that will likely reflect investment in health, housing, public safety and education infrastructure as well as addressing another “big” fire and flood year.
“There's very hot topics in the Yukon around mining legislation. There's a lot of interest in land planning. You know, we're also making sure that those items which are incredibly important to Yukon First Nations, and Yukoners in general, are also prioritized,” he said.
Pillai suggested a “full slate of legislation” around mining won’t be done by the end of his government’s term, despite how busy legislative drafters are.
“First Nation governments are aware of that. We're aware of that,” Pillai said. “It’s such complex work.”
Pillai expects to be questioned by the opposition parties on the fallout of Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine landslide. He’s waiting for a court filing that has to be done in the next couple of weeks. He said that filing will show the state of the company and the tools and assets that it had.
“We can then sort of be able to take a look at how they were managing that money? How was it being spent? What was the long-term liabilities?” Pillai said. “And I think that's going to help everybody to reflect on what the state of the organization was and, also, you know, what were the options in front of us?”
The top challenges he identified facing his government heading into the fall sitting include ensuring a strong economy despite the Eagle Gold Mine situation, understanding the territory’s energy and telecommunications vulnerabilities and keeping an eye on education, downtown safety and health.
“We've hired almost 300 nurses over the last year. That's immense, and that's an incredible investment. We're still seeing escalating costs around health care,” Pillai said.
Pillai indicated that the supplementary budget will have to consider additional costs that are billed back to the Yukon from other jurisdictions when people leave the territory to get medical care, and “all the while, we've now gone out to RFP (request for proposal) to talk about the future of infrastructure.”
“We're going to have to build more hospital infrastructure, whether that's, you know, doubling size of the hospital, whatever the needs are going to be,” Pillai said.
Over the summer, Dixon has been hearing from Yukoners about a lot of the same old issues — but they’re getting worse, not better.
Dixon said his party will be pressing the government on health, crime and economy, including the Victoria Gold situation, as main priorities this fall.
Dixon is concerned that Yukoners continue to languish on wait lists and face continuous delays on surgeries and other procedures that are causing “real hardship for Yukon.”
He suggested his party will be asking questions around “untrue or inaccurate” press releases the government has been putting out based on what his team hears from doctors — the ones conducting the surgeries and doing the work every day.
Health professionals have described the health-care system as at a breaking point or the verge of collapse, he said, noting the lack of hospital funding is a key issue for his squad.
Dixon fears the economy is going in the wrong direction. He looks forward to the government’s fall economic outlook for a better picture of the Yukon’s economy.
“The challenges facing the mining industry, small businesses, tourism and others, are creating some significant issues for not just for small businesses, but for Yukoners in general, as we see some businesses start to close down or restrict their operations,” he said.
Dixon supports the Yukon government’s recent announcement to fund two additional police officers, as his party has "always" called for more RCMP resources to address crime downtown and throughout the Yukon.
However, he said his party will continue to vote against the government on all confidence matters, including the supplementary budget, because it doesn’t have confidence in the government.
For White, a “lot of things” in CASA should be farther along than they are.
“I'm feeling kind of feisty, to be honest,” White said.
“There's no working on an agreement past next spring. Because after that, all, you know, every politician for themselves."
White said only “some portions” of those three key CASA commitments related to fertility treatments, educational assistants and teachers on call, and the land lottery system have been addressed.
“I feel like they're dragging their heels with things that deeply affect Yukoners. And that, to me, is disgraceful,” White said.
Health care, education, minerals and mining, and housing will be some key priorities for the Yukon NDP this fall.
“We're in a place right now where people continue to struggle with housing, right? They continue to struggle to find housing, with the affordability of housing, like, the construction of housing,” White said.
“When we have people who are struggling with safe, accessible housing, then it's going to continue to be something that we have to talk about.”
White indicated her party will have lots to say about the Eagle Gold Mine "disaster" and the next steps the Yukon needs to take in mining. She has questions about actions the Yukon government isn’t taking now.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
