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NDP's Moorcroft launches re election campaign in Copperbelt South

NDP MLA Lois Moorcroft has announced she's planning to seek re-election in Copperbelt South during this year's territorial election.

NDP MLA Lois Moorcroft has announced she’s planning to seek re-election in Copperbelt South during this year’s territorial election.

During her announcement on Monday, Moorcroft focused on the work she’s done to support social justice and human rights.

She referred to two motions she’s tabled, one to build accessible campsites in Yukon campgrounds, and another calling for trans rights to be explicitly included in the Yukon Human Rights Act.

She has also called for the Yukon government to end the use of solitary confinement at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

Moorcroft also spoke about her work as the critic for Highways and Public Works, and referred specifically to the functional plan for the Whitehorse corridor of the Alaska Highway, which has received a lukewarm reaction from the public.

“I’ve heard loud and clear from Copperbelt South constituents and Alaska Highway business owners that we need safe transportation,” she said. “But this current plan doesn’t make the grade. It’s important to get it right.”

An NDP government, Moorcroft said, would also focus on climate change. “We need to be looking at a renewable energy future. We need to be doing a transition to a green economy.”

She said an NDP government would adopt the Peel watershed regional land use plan.

She also added that the NDP would focus on implementing the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Moorcroft is one of the most experienced NDP MLAs, having first been elected in Mount Lorne in 1992. She represented the riding until 2000, serving as minister for justice, education and the women’s directorate under former NDP premier Piers McDonald after 1996.

In 2011, Moorcroft had a narrow win in Copperbelt South, beating Yukon Party candidate Valerie Boxall by just three votes.

But she said she’s now had four and a half years to represent her constituents in the legislature.

“I’ve been at a lot of community events and I’ve done a lot of things to expose issues for the residents of Copperbelt South,” she said. “So yes, I hope to do well.”