Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

TALKING ENERGY EFFICIENCY – Scott Kent (centre), the minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and the Yukon Party election candidate for Copperbelt South, and Michelle Kolla, the Yukon Party candidate for Porter Creek Centre, are seen at this morning’s news conference in Whistle Bend. Walking at the left is Currie Dixon, the party’s campaign chair and an outgoing minister who isn’t seeking re-election.

Plan would be funded from ‘within existing resources’

The Yukon Party would double the dollars it allocates to energy-efficient home-building in the territory if elected Nov. 7.

By Amy Kenny on October 18, 2016

The Yukon Party would double the dollars it allocates to energy-efficient home-building in the territory if elected Nov. 7.

That was the plan announced this morning by Yukon Party candidates Michelle Kolla and Scott Kent.

The pair spoke at a press conference held in the Whistle Bend subdivision.

Behind them, construction workers were busy laying foundations for a new green home, one of many Kent said had been built in Whistle Bend since the Yukon Party established the Residential Energy Incentive Program in 2015.

The program was developed to encourage the construction and retrofitting of energy-efficient homes by providing up to $10,000 toward green home-building. This includes new builds as well as improvements in air-sealing, insulation, and windows and doors.

Kent, the minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and the candidate for Copperbelt South, said that at the time the program was announced, there had been eight such homes in the territory.

Today, he said, under the “wildly successful” program, there are almost 100.

He said this morning’s announcement represents an $11-million commitment to the program over the next five years.

“I think one of the most exciting things about it is it’s revolutionized the building industry for homes here in the Yukon,” he said of the application-driven program, which can be accessed through the Energy Solutions Centre.

As far as where the money for this would come from, Kent pointed to the capital allotment the party budgets each year for different things.

“There’s flexibility within that budgeting, and that’s where the money will come from is from the existing capital allotment,” he said.

“These are commitments that we made and we’ll fund it within existing resources.”

Kolla, the party’s Porter Creek Centre candidate, said in a statement these programs “represent an important part of our made-in-Yukon approach to reducing emissions, promoting renewable energy and creating jobs.

“We know that our plan works, and that real results are possible without a carbon tax.”

Last Friday, Premier Darrell Pasloski vowed a re-elected Yukon Party government would spend $47 million to retrofit 20 Yukon schools to make them more energy-efficient.

Comments (12)

Up 0 Down 0

Again we have Liberals misleading Yukoners on Oct 24, 2016 at 4:06 pm

What some parties will do to win. This show the quality of leadership in the Yukon. Some parties are just plain dangerous to the public's well being.

Up 6 Down 1

Art on Oct 21, 2016 at 1:35 pm

Remember it was this minister who was in charge of Yukon housing when party supporters were given key positions at Yhc and just about all the yhc senior staff was canned, the same staff that developed the green program and the super green program. Oh and how is that 4 years in the making housing strategy coming along?

Up 8 Down 1

Yukoner 31 on Oct 19, 2016 at 3:03 pm

Really Wilf? you are saying (I think you are saying?) that everyone involved is lying? I can understand if you think the inebriated folks wouldn't have a clear memory of what happened, but there were witnesses from what I've heard. You shouldn't be so quick to defend the lawsuit party.

Up 6 Down 17

Look at all the liberals and NDP put out more crap on Oct 19, 2016 at 12:01 pm

Who moved voters into Whitehorse center to vote for them?.
Who went to S. Army and got people to vote for them that were not from that riding?
Who is using the seniors in that riding?
The Chief of KDFN is making smart move to protect her people.
Liberals using dirty tricks that are not true about the Yukon Party and KDFN people.
How low some politicians will go.

Up 15 Down 7

JG on Oct 19, 2016 at 9:23 am

The CONservative party is resorting to questionable voting strategies to get back in: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kwanlin-dun-vote-yukon-party-tactics-1.3810904

Yukon deserves better than this, way way better.

Up 15 Down 0

wundering on Oct 19, 2016 at 1:24 am

Why not just upgrade Yukon building codes, instead of subsidizing builders.

Up 8 Down 1

Elmer Vasko on Oct 18, 2016 at 10:25 pm

"existing resources" seem to be solving a lot of historical problems -
adding this to my list of things that make me go HMMMMMM

Up 11 Down 4

Yukoner on Oct 18, 2016 at 9:52 pm

It's ironic that while Scott is touting the YPs green initiatives, it was the YP that removed the requirement for new buildings outside the CofW to meet the new national energy code. New buildings within the CofW are required to meet minimum energy efficiency standards.

Up 16 Down 5

Dentyne Floss on Oct 18, 2016 at 5:06 pm

Let us bow our heads and remember. Remember, like the 7th of November, remember that Wade Ischkenko deliberately broke the law to obtain a wilderness tourism operator licence, that the Paz was directly involved in the shady mountain view golf course debacle and that Stacey Hassard openly awards contracts to relatives and friends. Are these the actions of people we want representing us? We deserve better.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-mla-confesses-to-falsifying-documents-1.1049673

http://www.yukon-news.com/news/pasloski-was-on-mountain-view-golf-clubs-board-at-time-of-secretive-750000-/

http://www.yukon-news.com/news/garbage-contract-stinks-teslin-first-nation

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-sole-source-contract-total-north-1.3699062

Up 17 Down 5

June Jackson on Oct 18, 2016 at 5:01 pm

YP is pretty desperate. They had 5 years in which to do good for the Yukon. They chose to do some pretty good things for themselves.. jetting off on expensive travels on the taxpayer dime, court case after court case, DOUBLE their financial packages, disrespect FN, force seniors out to WB, make people pay for their drugs..not all, but enough that in this election they are avoiding Health Care like the plague..jobs out to everyone BUT a Yukon resident.. The Star does not have enough room for me to list their failures.

Not going to get a vote from me... I don't play golf..or soccer..but I do like to have food, have a roof over my head and proper medication all at the same time.. These days, at the end of the month, I have to decide which two I want the most...

I hope you all.. every last one of you, leave town after you don't get voted back in, because I don't even want to see your faces ever again.

Up 25 Down 11

Mark Sanders on Oct 18, 2016 at 4:42 pm

What is next? A trolley from Whistle Bend to the subsidized golf course and downtown (maybe the downtown link is not a bad idea).

Up 29 Down 13

ProScience Greenie on Oct 18, 2016 at 4:09 pm

The photo op of Kent and Kolla at Whistle Bend subdivision makes it look like a winter scene from the Gobi Desert. Nothing up there is good for the environment or healthy living. A poor place to make a sales pitch for the environment.

How about more smaller homes on a decent size lot at an affordable price. Just say no to copying ugly tightly packed sub-divisions typical of some random booming oil-patch city. That's not a very Yukon thing to do.

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