The territorial and federal governments are spending $4.2 million in joint funding on waste management upgrades and two new accessible buses for the City of Whitehorse.

Ottawa is spending just over $900,000 on the buses and about $2.2 million on improvements to the Whitehorse Waste Management Facility, all through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

The Yukon government is contributing $312,500 and $737,500 respectively.

“For a city of our size, and its exponential growth, this is significant funding for us,” Mayor Laura Cabott told a news conference held this morning. She was joined by Yukon MP Brendan Hanley and Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn.

Spending on waste management will go toward improving the separation of unsorted waste – such as organics, clean wood and recyclables – that would otherwise end up in landfills.

The city will use the funding to expand and pave the “waste collection area” at the waste management facility for better management of litter and snow removal, and to purchase new sorting bins.

The city is growing, and these changes are meant to expand the facility’s capacity to sort and manage waste. 

Mostyn said waste management is an enormous expense for all municipalities in the Yukon. This new funding will help make the process more financially efficient and environmentally friendly, he said.

Cabott said it will help extend the life of the city’s landfill.

“The City of Whitehorse is focused on strategic investments that reduce our environmental footprint and provide residents with the municipal services they expect,” she said.

Whitehorse’s solid waste action plan, first published in 2013, aimed to divert 50 per cent of waste from the landfill by 2015.

Last year, a city report said waste diversion had plateaued at 33 per cent.

A 2022 update on the plan also estimates the landfill will be full by 2056 at the current rate of waste disposal.

As for the transit announcement, two new 12-metre (40-foot) buses with accessible features, like a drop-down ramp, will be added to the city’s fleet. That will improve transit for people with disabilities and mobility challenges, as well as adults with strollers.

The additions will increase the city’s transit fleet to 16 buses.

Whitehorse’s website says all its conventional buses “are fully-accessible low floor buses.”

However, the city currently offers a Handy Bus service seven days a week that can be booked in advance for those “who are unable to use standard transit services.” The new accessible buses will operate on a regular schedule.

Cabott called transit a “priority.” The city is trying to boost ridership and more buses will expand services, which could incentivize more people to use buses, she said.

In a new Confidence and Supply Agreement signed with the NDP in January, the Liberal government committed to funding free transit for Whitehorse. At the time, Cabott said her municipality had not been consulted on this commitment.

Today, she said Whitehorse and the Yukon government have still not discussed how free transit could be rolled out.

Mostyn said it’s up to the municipality.

“We have here prepared to offer to help if this is something the City of Whitehorse wants, but it’s their decision what services they provide and how they deliver that service,” he said.

Cabott told the Star this month she’s unsure that free transit is the best way to expand ridership.

She also noted at the time that the agreement between the Liberals and the NDP will expire in 2025, making the length of a free program precarious.

Cabott said infrastructure investments like the ones announced today are imperative for the growing city.

“When I started my job as the mayor (in late 2021), I was constantly talking about building houses, but if you don’t have the infrastructure behind it, you won’t get a house built,” she said.

“A community cannot thrive without reliable infrastructure.”

Hanley spoke for Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities – who was in Whitehorse last week to discuss health care funding with Premier Ranj Pillai.

“Our government is committed to building environmentally responsible and inclusive communities,” Hanley said.

“Today’s announcement will support the City of Whitehorse in making important upgrades needed to the waste management infrastructure and improve existing public transit options.

“Through these projects, we are making our community stronger, more inclusive and supporting a healthy environment for future generations,” the MP said.