Where last year’s federal budget dropped with a bang, this year’s fell with a more gentle thud.

The budget tabled yesterday is “not as big” as the 2016-17 budget with respect to new tax credits for northern residents, but many tax breaks Yukoners already enjoy will continue for at least another year, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said Wednesday.

Some northern highlights from the proposed 2017-18 budget tabled in the House of Commons yesterday include a $400-million Arctic Energy Fund, specific investments in northern healthcare systems, money to help indigenous and northern communities reduce their reliance on diesel, and housing dollars aimed at the territories and indigenous peoples living off reserves.

There are also proposals for investments in adult education and new judges in the North.

Bagnell weighed in on the budget in an interview yesterday afternoon from Ottawa.

“Our two biggest industries are tourism and mining,” he said, and this budget aims to support both.

The federal Liberals proposed to extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for another year, until March 31, 2018. The tax break helps smaller companies finance exploration beyond existing mine sites.

The budget also proposes to make a $37.5-million annual investment in Canadian tourism marketing permanent, with an additional $8.6 million specifically to support the Indigenous tourism industry.

“Tourism is a bigger part of our private sector economy, percentage-wise, of our gross domestic product, than any other province or territory, so that’s very important,” said Bagnell.

The Canada Child Benefit, a monthly payment to families with children under 18, and the northern housing allowance are also set to continue unchanged, said Bagnell.

This budget proposes to renew the Territorial Health Investment Fund for four years starting this year, with $25.6 million over four years going to the Yukon.

“That piece allows us to enjoy the same level of health care as the rest of Canada, with the unique lens of living in the North,” said Premier Sandy Silver this morning. The Yukon also negotiated more control over how the funding is allocated, he said.

The Territorial Health Investment Fund helps territorial residents access mental health, chronic disease management, and children’s dental services. The fund was set to expire in 2018.

Though the federal budget says the Territorial Health Investment Fund is meant to “improve access to health services in the territories ... and reduce reliance on medical transport outside the region,” Silver said the fund will indeed pay for medical travel.

“That will be THIF (Territorial Health Investment Fund) for sure,” he said.

“The Canada Health Act says that every Canadian needs to enjoy the same level of care. We say give us the territorial health investment fund, let us spend it the way we want to spend it, and a lot of that money is going to go to medivacs.”

The Yukon Party, however, expressed disappointment with yesterday’s federal budget, particularly with health care spending.

“While we are encouraged to see the budget dedicate some money for northern housing and the Territorial Health Investment Fund, the amount of only $2.1 million a year for housing in the territory does not make up for the federal government’s cuts to the TFF or health transfers,” interim leader Stacey Hassard said in a statement.

The Yukon Party also pointed out that the budget makes no specific mention of funding for medical travel.

The 2017-18 budget proposes to spend $300 million over 11 years to support northern housing, starting in 2018-19. The money is meant to offset the higher costs of building in the territories, and to help improve the current northern housing stock.

From this, the Yukon would get $24 million over 11 years, or about $2.2 million a year.

Bagnell conceded that it’s a small amount, but said there are other funding pools the Yukon can draw from to support affordable housing, the scarcity of which is a perennial issue in the territory.

Silver suggested at least some of the housing money go toward building capacity, so that Yukon homes can be built by Yukoners.

“We want to make sure that every community in the Yukon has a competitive industry as far as building homes,” he said.

In Silver’s own community of Dawson, the School of Visual Arts has continued to hit a wall with its enrolment, because prospective students can’t find anywhere in town to live.

There’s an eight-unit building currently under construction to help address the need, said Silver, but housing pressures in Dawson, like elsewhere in the territory, are a continuous concern.

He said his government would use evidence-based decision-making to determine whose housing needs are greatest, and would work from there “making sure that people that find it hard to make ends meet but are trying their best, that they have the best options as far as accessability to homes.”

Under the proposed 2017-18 Liberal budget, $225 million over 11 years would go toward housing for indigenous peoples across Canada who don’t live on reserves. This money would start flowing in 2018-19, at a rate of $25 million a year until at least 2022.

The budget says this money would at least, in part, ensure the affordability of housing in urban areas. It’s unclear how much, if any, of the proposed funds would go to the Yukon.

An even larger question mark looms over the Liard First Nation, the Ross River Dena Council and White River First Nation, none of which has a land claim agreement. Could their citizens benefit from this funding pot?

Silver said he was assured at last week’s Intergovernmental Forum with Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, that she understands that determinations like “on-reserve” and “off-reserve” don’t apply easily in the Yukon.

“She gets it,” he said. “We keep on pounding the message and that’s what you have to do, that’s our job, to educate the rest of Canada to the uniqueness of the Yukon.”

The carbon tax also made an appearance on the proposed federal budget.

The government will apply a “backstop pricing system” to any province or territory that doesn’t implement its own carbon pricing scheme by 2018.

The Yukon intends to use the federal mechanism, said Silver.

Bagnell said the federal government will administer the carbon tax in the Yukon, and revenues will be given to the Yukon government to distribute.

“It would make more sense if the federal government collects it, that way we’re not increasing an administrative burden here in the Yukon, and we can make sure that the money goes directly back to Yukoners, Yukon businesses and individuals,” said Silver.

“It’s like the guillotine, this is happening,” said Silver of the national carbon tax.

The federal Liberals have made infrastructure spending a top priority and there is more of it in this budget.

The government plans to establish an infrastructure bank that will invest in “large, transformative projects,” such as transit and transportation networks and the connecting of electricity grids. At least $5 billion will go toward green projects.

This budget proposes to invest in northern infrastructure in part, through bilateral funding agreements.

This means that the federal government would provide 75 per cent of the funding for agreed-upon projects in the territories and with indigenous partners.

There is money to help with adapting to climate change in the North in this budget, including $21.4 million over four years to help indigenous and northern communities reduce their reliance on diesel.

The budget says the $400-million Arctic Energy Fund will help address energy security in the territories, but does not provide any more details. The fund would begin investing in 2018-19 at a rate of $40 million a year.

In addition, the budget proposes $83.8 million over eight years for INAC for various climate change adaptation and emergency management measures in indigenous and northern communities.

The budget also proposes to invest $25 million over five years in a new Indigenous Guardians Program.

The pilot project would give indigenous peoples “greater responsibility and resources to manage their traditional lands and waterways.”

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