The governing Liberals and the Yukon NDP continue to snipe over the concept of free public transit in Whitehorse.

Whitehorse Centre MLA Lane Tredger of the NDP recently sent a letter to Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn about the issue.

“I am writing to you to propose a solution that would allow the City of Whitehorse to implement free municipal transit and replace all fare-generated revenues. Before we take this proposal to the City of Whitehorse, we need agreement from you regarding funding,” Tredger wrote.

“We propose that the City of Whitehorse waive all passenger fares and use existing technology – which is already installed in city buses – to count the number of users on public transit.

“The Yukon Government would then transfer to City of Whitehorse the equivalent of the fares for those riders,” Tredger wrote.

“This would allow the City of Whitehorse to recover all fare-generated revenues, including potentially increased fare revenue after transit becomes free.”

Tredger suggested the government provide up to $5 million a year for the project. It would come out of money set aside for green initiatives under the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) signed last January by the Liberals and NDP to keep the minority government in power.

“All that is required before bringing this proposal to the City of Whitehorse is your agreement,” Tredger wrote.

“This will allow the Whitehorse city council to vote on a concrete and fully funded proposal.” 

Mostyn responded in a follow-up letter, “As agreed upon and subsequently directed by our caucuses, the Government of Yukon has earmarked $1.5 million annually over three years to CASA item 3a, replacing fare-generated revenue to make public transit free in Whitehorse.

“As you have acknowledged, your proposal dated October 23 requests additional funding for this project well above the agreed amount of $1.5 million annually for the next three years. You propose reprofiling $5 million from green infrastructure funding towards this request,” the minister wrote. 

Mostyn continued, “As you are aware, this $5 million funding for green infrastructure projects has been allocated towards projects benefiting communities beyond Whitehorse.

“As a government, we are working very hard on many fronts to ensure that we are supporting Yukoners and making life more affordable ....

“Unfortunately, this means that our government is not in a position to provide municipalities with unlimited funds.”

Tredger’s reaction to this was blunt.

“It’s a really disappointing response,” they told reporters Thursday afternoon.

“It’s really disappointing to see the Liberals take any excuse they can find to weasel out of a commitment.”