Yukon MLAs who rent out homes face vote on rent cap

Six of the Yukon’s 21 MLAs are landlords or have partners who are landlords, as the legislature prepares for a final vote on a bill that would end rent caps and allow evictions without cause, CBC News reported Friday.

That is 28.6 per cent of the legislative assembly. Four of the 14 Yukon Party MLAs have disclosed they are landlords: Jen Gehmair, Laura Lang, Patti McLeod and Adam Gerle. NDP MLA Carmen Gustafson is a landlord, and fellow NDP MLA Brent McDonald’s wife is a landlord, though the property is not in his name. Liberal MLA Debra-Leigh Reti said she is not a landlord, according to the report.

Community Services Minister Cory Bellmore introduced the bill at the start of the fall sitting to amend the Residential Tenancies Act. The government has said the changes are meant to “restore balance” to the rental market. The bill has passed second reading and is expected to go to a final vote this fall.

Official Opposition Leader Kate White has questioned whether Yukon Party MLAs who rent out property should vote on the bill. “Conflicts, whether they’re real or perceived, matter,” White said. She said she is not concerned about landlords in her own caucus voting against the amendments.

Yukon Party caucus press secretary Tim Kucharuk said the territory’s conflict of interest commissioner has told MLAs there is no conflict in voting on the changes because the act applies broadly and does not single out specific properties or landlords. If landlords had a conflict, Kucharuk said, tenants would too.

The current act took effect on Sept. 1, 2025, and the Government of Yukon said at the time that it ended no-cause evictions and tied annual rent increases to inflation.

The vote comes as the territory’s new premier, Mike Pemberton, heads toward an election. Our earlier coverage looked at his swearing-in, the territory’s budget outlook and the challenge of finding affordable housing in the North.

Via CBC News: As the Yukon moves to lift rent control, we asked how many MLAs are landlords.

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