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Yukon Liberals raise $20,000 at Vancouver hockey game

Silver says no public money spent on trip, party refuses to say who bought tickets
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Yukon Premier Sandy Silver speaks with media in his office. (Jesse Winter/ Yukon News file)

The Yukon Liberal Party says it raised approximately $20,000 at a fundraiser in Vancouver last December.

For $500 a ticket, about 40 donors watched the game between the Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens with Premier Sandy Silver and deputy premier Ranj Pillai.

Party president Devin Bailey, said the cost of flights and accommodations for himself, Pillai and Silver were all paid for by the party and that there were “zero tax dollars spent.”

NDP Leader Liz Hanson took the government to task in the legislative assembly April 9 and 10 after a National Post story says Silver said his government had never held a fundraiser outside of the territory.

“We have been clear, as the NDP, that we support banning corporate union out-of-territory donations and we’re happy to help work with this government to make it happen, but not just after the next election,” Hanson said.

“It’s easy for the premier to say he didn’t break the rules when effectively there are no rules.”

The Yukon is one of the only jurisdictions in the country without rules around who can donate to a political party or how much they can give.

Silver said the all-party member services board is currently looking into that.

Silver said that the trip was paid for separately instead of inserting fundraising into a government-funded work trip.

He said the Post interview was done prior to the Vancouver fundraiser, though the story was published in late March.

Bailey said the cost of the suite to watch the hockey game was “shared by several donors” but would not say who those were. He said details of the party’s donations will be part of Elections Yukon’s annual spring report on party finances. That report is normally released in April or May.

Contact Ashley Joannou at ashley@yukon-news.com