From the signing of the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan to an attempt at electoral reform that went nowhere, it was another interesting year in Yukon politics.
Here’s what the three party leaders had to say about the year’s big political stories, and what issues figure to dominate in 2020.
Stacey Hassard, Yukon Party
On the cost of living: “I think for me, kind of the biggest trend we might call it for this year is the increasing cost of living for people in the territory. We’ve seen the carbon tax come into play in July. Obviously that caused the price of everything to go up: fuel, groceries, diapers, whatever you want to look at. We’ve seen housing costs higher than they’ve ever been before. Lot prices [are] completely unaffordable.”
On government transparency: “We ask questions on behalf of Yukoners in the Legislature and we’re not getting answers that Yukoners deserve. Anything we ask regarding details, whether it’s dollar figures or timelines, they [the Liberals] don’t answer the questions and they seem to forget that this is taxpayers’ dollars that they’re spending and they really need to be accountable about how they’re spending them.”
On electoral reform: “We did try to work with the government. We worked with the NDP, but unfortunately the Liberals’ go-it-alone approach certainly has backfired on them. Premier [Sandy Silver] has said that nothing can happen now until spring. That’s unfortunate. We offered directly to the premier the option of having a special sitting to bring this issue forward. This wasn’t a priority for myself and the Yukon Party, we just honestly were trying to work with the government … on this and it’s unfortunate that they’ve been rather pigheaded about moving forward.”
Sandy Silver, Liberal Party
On the Peel Watershed: “Looking back at the whole year, it has to be finalizing of the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use plant that was 15 years in the making. It’s very significant in that it’s a new era of government-to-government relationships … Being on the banks of the river in Mayo, celebrating with all of Yukon, signing that document — that was a profound moment in my life.”
On electoral reform: “Something that I’d like to redo would be the electoral reform commission and the stalling there. From the beginning, you know we were really in earnest wanting to work with the opposition on the draft terms of reference on the process. At every turn it seemed to be stalled, let’s just say that. From the beginning, our platform committee was a nonpartisan commission. So again we’re gonna have to rethink things and come back.”
On the government’s agenda in 2020: “We talked about the banning of single-use bags. We talked about the banning of conversion therapy. We’re working on electrification of the Alaska Highway…. We’re introducing an energy retrofit loan program that we talked about a lot this session. We’re also introducing leave provisions for those who have experienced domestic violence and expanding the early kindergarten program…. But I would say that I’m really excited about Yukon University. That’s massive. That’s a big deal for the nation.”
Kate White, NDP
On climate change: “I think climate crawled its way to the top of the pile this year because we’ve hit this critical mass — not only like, nationally or internationally, but locally. So I mean, I think I saw the biggest numbers for sure in any kind of rally that I’d ever seen with the climate strikes this fall…. It’s great that [the Liberals] accepted the amendment that I made to their motion to declare a climate emergency. I guess part of the problem is that they say they’ve got a ‘climate lens’ which they’re using to make decisions, but they can’t share that climate lens.”
On the government’s vision: “I think what we see is, a bit of it almost feels like governing by survey: ‘What is a hot topic issue right now? What are people saying about it? Can the government make decisions that won’t offend people?’ If they offend people, it goes back to survey or goes back to consultation. I don’t necessarily see things that have been just government-driven. I’ve seen lots of things community-driven that government has picked up on, but very few that are government-driven.”
On issues for 2020: “We need to talk about housing and housing affordability and accessibility. It’s one thing to say that we’ve got more than 200 people on the Yukon Housing wait list. But what about people who aren’t on that wait list? What about people who are paying substantially more than 30 per cent of their net income [for housing]? We’re going to continue to talk about climate change. What are the actions that follow up with that? Minimum wage, pharmacare, [and] the availability of dental services.”
