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Outfitter Alan Young seeks Liberal nomination in Lake Laberge

Outfitter Alan Young has announced he will seek the Liberal nomination for Lake Laberge. Young said he wants to help build a healthy economy in the Yukon.

Outfitter Alan Young has announced he will seek the Liberal nomination for Lake Laberge.

Young said he wants to help build a healthy economy in the Yukon.

“With genuine and honest management, the Yukon can be an absolutely unique, profitable and healthy destination for residents and investors alike - I want to see this happen,” he said in a news release. “Having been self-employed I know what it takes to accomplish this goal.”

He also said he wants to improve the Yukon government’s relationship with First Nations.

Young is also concerned about local issues in Lake Laberge, including the subdivision of lots.

“Local issues and a lack of will to solve them have actually been a big factor in my decision to run,” he said in the release.

Young has worked in wilderness outfitting for 35 years, and has served as the president of the Yukon Outfitters’ Association.

He currently offers trips in the Peel watershed, and has been a vocal critic of the government’s approach to negotiating the Peel watershed land use plan.

In 2012, he published a heated letter in the News, in which he wrote that he was “appalled and disgusted” with the government for its “lack of forthrightness and integrity” concerning the plan.

“Industrial access and road development in one of the last intact environmental ecosystems of the world is totally unacceptable to me,” he wrote.

Young said he’s able to run for office because his two children are now looking after his business interests.

Lake Laberge is currently held by Justice Minister Brad Cathers, who won in 2011 with 52 per cent of the vote.

Young declined to speak with the News about his decision to seek the Liberal nomination, saying he took issue with an unspecified story this reporter once published.