Whitehorse Daily Star

Parties’ views on session differ radically

More money, more problems seemed to ring true for the spring session of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, which saw the largest annual budget this territory has ever witnessed.

By Aimee O'Connor on May 29, 2015

More money, more problems seemed to ring true for the spring session of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, which saw the largest annual budget this territory has ever witnessed.

But the Yukon Party’s bigger-is-better budget didn’t buy the support of the Opposition.

“Now we’ve seen the economic data to show us that despite the rhetoric and flowery language, we’ve got a government that has guided the economy into recession,” NDP Leader Liz Hanson told the Star Thursday.

Hanson said there was a feeling of economic uncertainty during the fall session that only deepened further since the session started in April.

But Liberal Leader Sandy Silver suggests it was doomed from the get-go, saying the session started on a contentious note with hot-button issues like Bill S-6 and the Peel watershed court appeal looming over people’s heads, with tension that could be cut with a knife.

Premier Darrell Pasloski started off the session with a budget address boasting the large investments totaling $313 million in capital that Pasloski says will create jobs and improve infrastructure.

These projects include the expansion of Whitehorse General Hospital, the building of a new F.H. Collins Secondary School, the Whistle Bend continuing care facility, McDonald Lodge residence in Dawson City and pursuing a second fibre-optic link involving Alaska.

These projects are aimed to get more Yukoners working, since mining is currently experiencing an economic downturn.

But NDP critics said more and more people and local businesses are getting shut out from the opportunity to bid on capital expenditures.

During this session, the NDP had criticisms for the amount of local trades people employed at the F.H. Collins build site.

Constituents were also questioning the procurement process, including the Employment Assistance Program contract which recently was awarded to an Ontario company, leaving a local company with a significant decrease in business.

The start of the session also saw improvements toward e-services available to Yukoners. Now, annual camping permits and fishing licences can be obtained online.

Pasloski also introduced a new vision for education, a chance for the territory to spread its wings and create its own curriculum.

“Right now, we have B.C.’s curriculum, and there’s only one path to follow. I think we can do better than that,” he said.

In addition to the capital projects, the $1.37-billion budget introduced some tax amendments, including lower personal income tax rates that Pasloski says will put $5.5 million back in Yukoners’ pockets.

The Yukon Child Benefit will see an increase of 35 per cent. Both of these motions received unanimous support from all three parties—and it wasn’t the only area that all three parties agreed upon.

Silver put forward a motion to implement a mental health strategy in early April, which garnered immediate support from the government. But now, he worries that although the support was there, nothing has been done to implement the motion thus far.

“We could have a robust mining industry if we take care of education issues, mental health and social issues,” he told the Star.

As of now, the Yukon has no mental health strategy, he said, which will be prevalent when the territory receives hundreds of new workers from Outside to work on capital projects and mining ventures.

According to Silver, more newcomers could pave the way for drug problems and other social tensions.

“We’re not well on social issues with our current population; what happens when a major mining company comes in?”

While the Yukon has one active mine currently, now might be the right time to address implementing a mental health strategy, he said.

Fortunately, mental health was not the only topic that received respectful and positive debate this session.

Since artist Ted Harrison’s passing last January, Pasloski has been advocating to appeal to the National Gallery of Canada to reconsider including Harrison’s artwork in its national collection.

Last Monday, all three parties voted in favour of Pasloski’s motion to continue to push for Harrison’s recognition in Canada’s most prestigious art gallery.

NDP justice critic Lois Moorcroft put forth a motion this month that also went through, with only one hitch.

The assembly agreed that it was time to recognize the rights of the Yukon’s transgender population.

The motion to amend the Yukon Human Rights Act to explicitly include “gender identity” and “gender expression” as prohibited grounds for discrimination was accepted with a slight amendment—to change the act “the next time it is reviewed.”

The motion also called for the use of public education and support for full equality and respect for the transgendered population, which went through unamended.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses during the day-to-day assembly proceedings.

As members of the Opposition, Hanson notes that not only is it their duty to hold the government accountable for its actions, it’s also to provide ideas and different approaches to things.

But she says when putting simple things forward to debate, it became akin to a cat and mouse game. And sometimes, motions would go through with amendments that altered the significance of the motion altogether.

For Silver, it’s the answers to contentious questions that have not improved over time.

“When you ask those questions, at first it feels like you’re in a hockey rink. You want to drop the gloves. You get emotional.

“But then you start to realize, ‘This isn’t me... I’m representing a community. I’m representing a party. These questions, if we do this the right way, come directly from Yukoners. So when they get up and berate me, it’s a reflection of arrogance.”

Silver recognizes that the questions the Opposition picks are tough, and the ministers might not always have the answers right at hand.

“I would love to be on government side and stand up as a minister responsible for a particular department say, ‘You’re right. That is a problem. This is what we’ll do.’”

For Hanson, the confrontational responses from the government helped her party become stronger and more resilient.

“It sounds strange, to reflect on a good thing as developing a resilience, but in tough circumstances, it’s an important thing to have.”

As with any disagreement, the government sees this issue a bit differently.

“It just seems truth and facts have no bearing on the nature of the questions, and that’s disappointing,” said Pasloski.

“They say they support economic growth, but at every turn, they continue to oppose and to vote against any initiative there is for economic growth. If they had a good idea, we’d look at it. And we’d probably use it.”

Above all, the disjointed communication among the three parties seems to be their biggest hindrance.

Silver thinks it’s time for two-way communication.

“It’s a success story waiting to happen a lot of the time. The missing link is the extra communication.”

Whether it be the potential for hydraulic fracturing in the territory, the location for the new French-language high school, or finalized plans for facilities involving sports and continuing care, it appears that both Opposition parties are pushing for more transparency and co-operation from the government and more consultation with Yukoners on these issues.

As for summer plans, all three parties will be making the rounds to the Yukon’s communities and events and speaking to its constituents about issues they are facing.

The in-between-session step, Hanson told the Star, is the lifeblood of being in politics.

See leaders’commentaries.

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