MLAs of all stripes will receive a crash course from deputy ministers on the role of departments next week, Premier Darrell Pasloski announced Tuesday.
He credited NDP Leader Liz Hanson for the “great idea.”
The two met for their first one-on-one meeting on Friday.
Hanson, as the new leader of the Opposition, wants to improve decorum in the legislature. She touts the all-party briefing as an example of moving above partisan bickering.
“I think you can have a hard and firm discussion and still have respect for individuals at the end of the day,” said Hanson.
“It’s part of the spirit of co-operation,” said Pasloski. “This is a way to create a bit of a relationship with everybody.”
Whether this chumminess holds once the legislature convenes remains to be seen.
Expect a sitting sometime before Christmas. During that time, the government will table its supplementary budget.
The government will be sworn in on November 5.
Of Yukon’s 19 MLAs, 12 have never sat in the legislature before.
The only government MLAs with experience in the legislature are Scott Kent, a former Liberal cabinet minister under Pat Duncan, Brad Cathers and Tourism Minister Elaine Taylor. The NDP has Hanson. And the Liberals have their interim leader, Darius Elias, MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin.
Two other MLAs served previous terms. The Yukon Party’s Doug Graham was a conservative Justice minister three decades ago, from 1978 to 1981, before he resigned over a controversy involving him being investigated by the RCMP.
And the NDP’s Lois Moorcroft also served as Justice and Education minister under then premier Piers McDonald.
Pasloski will appoint cabinet portfolios when government members are sworn in next Saturday, on November 5.