Liberals iced trip before game was axed
The Yukon Liberals will have to reschedule one of their biggest – and most controversial – fundraisers.
The Yukon Liberals will have to reschedule one of their biggest – and most controversial – fundraisers.
The party decided to cancel the event – which was to be held during the past Saturday night’s Vancouver Canucks-Toronto Maple Leafs game – due to COVID-19 concerns, according to party president Carly Carruthers.
“Last week, with the growing Omicron concern and out of an abundance of caution, Premier Silver and ministers decided not to attend the Yukon Liberal Party fundraiser in Vancouver,” she said.
The game was postponed, apparently after the party made the decision to pull the plug.
The fundraiser was heavily criticized by the Yukon Party earlier this month and in November. On Dec. 14, the YP issued the following release:
“Today, the Liberal government cautioned Yukoners against domestic travel due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
“Meanwhile, half of the Liberal cabinet is ignoring their own advice and travelling to a packed shoulder-to-shoulder corporate party planned for Saturday at a Canucks hockey game.”
“The Liberal hypocrisy is starting to wear thin with Yukoners,” said MLA Wade Istchenko. “The Liberals have brought in strict public health restrictions that limit the amount of people that can gather indoors or sit at a table. Meanwhile they are going to Vancouver to party it up at an event that would not be allowed in the Yukon.
“Now they are telling Yukoners they should not travel as a result of the Omicron variant. Yet, once again, it is do as I say, not as I do, as they jet off to crammed party in the south.
“The Liberals should postpone their fundraiser to a later date and hold it when the public health situation allows.”
Silver had been set to travel with a coterie of ministers, including John Streicker, Ranj Pillai and Jeanie McLean.
A similar fundraiser in 2017 also caused controversy for the Liberals, with suggestions from the opposition parties that not all of the money raised had been disclosed.
Comments (20)
Up 7 Down 5
Yuck on Dec 24, 2021 at 7:44 am
To the liberal party I have but one word: Yucky.
Up 10 Down 11
Bill on Dec 23, 2021 at 11:07 am
@ Observer
You really are a bore. The other people you mention - I don't know. They are not on my radar, but evidently they are on yours. You must be a real piece of work to be so popular, all for the wrong reasons. As for my politics - I don't affiliate myself to anyone. I am not a slave to any of them, unlike you.
One can always count your verbiage being nothing more than the usual liberal rhetorical nonsense.
Up 8 Down 19
Observer on Dec 22, 2021 at 9:12 pm
Ha ha ha, John or is is Mike or is it Wayne, man you go by a lot of different names. Here is a tip, if you are going to change your name, you got to change your schtick.
You always try to make it sound like you represent a lot of people, but nobody votes for you at least as far as I can tell.
Cons have not formed government for sometime now and there is a reason for that. Have the Liberals been perfect? No. But, they have been a dam site better then anything the cons have to offer and Yukoners have returned them to power for another 4 years. Whining for that long is going to be a tad bit old, course if you have 3 or 4 names......
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Someone needs to quiet those roosters in Dawson City on Dec 22, 2021 at 3:18 pm
At Observer - Silver was not elected by the people he was elected by some people. A very tiny fraction of the Yukon population. Most people did not vote for him. Our system is not set up for actual majority rule. It is geared towards awarding victory to the first past the post… Hardly supportive of the grandiose statement used by autocrats, demagogues, and other dementors of the public will which is often used to justify the demagogues will as the “will of the people”.
In order to go along we support these distortions by calling them majorities when they are not… By referring to it as the will of the people when it is not… These self deceptions are built into the system and “we the people” accept these as the crystallization of some Panglossian cold comfort because it’s easy to go with the lie than to fight it.
We the people of Dawson come offering silver… Heard in the distance… A coq crows three times!
Up 21 Down 4
Bill on Dec 22, 2021 at 2:50 pm
@Observer
I often find that you are so defensive of anything critical said about Hi Ho Sliver that you feel impelled to strike out in defence - even though it is obvious to all that most of his acts are indefensible. Case in point - John's observations, I would say likely mirror exactly what occurred in the incident he cites. Yes, John (and I may add many, many others) feel the same about your fearless leader. I am non-political. Frankly I don't have much use for any of the parties - they are all cut from the same cloth.
Please stop thinking you must be his knight in shining honour. For it to have any affect he would need the whole army of Knights Templar before anyone would notice.
Oh by the way Observer - just because someone runs for office does not in any way shape or form make them immediately some kind of hero. If they volunteered accepting no pay, well that might just be a different kettle of fish.
Up 16 Down 2
BB on Dec 22, 2021 at 2:39 pm
How about this? No more donations from any entity other than eligible voters in this jurisdiction, or perhaps include people who reside here permanently but are not eligible to vote. That would put us in line with most other jurisdictions in Canada and would end the corruption and sleaze. The Yukon Party is just as bad as the Liberals. It is very disturbing to see how easily Liberals and Yukon Party politicians slide right into the mud as soon as they are elected, and therefore in line to get bribes from corporations. "Now it's our turn!" instead of doing the right thing. Disgusting actually. It's no wonder there is so little respect for politicians. You'd think somebody could show some concern for right and wrong. Actually, as much as I have problems with the ethics of other things the NDP has done in the past six months, the NDP did stop taking corporate and union donations.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of moral compass in the YP and Liberal politicians, coupled with the fact that the NDP will likely not get elected in the next 16 years or so and blackmail to uphold the government only goes so far, it's going to take a petition and focused demands by the public to change this legislation.
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Bingo on Dec 22, 2021 at 7:10 am
@hypocrisy….you reference an incident from 2014, not sure how this is relevant today. Problem is Trudeau and his bobble heads aka Silver etc. Said they would never do this never do that…. and they did. Comments are based on the present which shows that the liberals across the board are do as I say not as I do… and that is what’s relevant.
Up 24 Down 9
Jim C on Dec 21, 2021 at 8:46 pm
@Hipocrisy, maybe you can remind us all again as to what pandemic and state of emergency was in play when the Yukon Party did their boat cruise fund raising? I fully agree that both parties shouldn’t be partying it up in Vancouver, but for these sleaze balls to be doing it now is just a slap in the face to all Yukoners. And for Sandy Silver saying they cancelled due to omicron is just a bald face lie. The games have been cancelled. There was nothing going to be happening in their game box. Tough to sell those $500 tickets on that. Maybe some people will buy this crap, but most with common sense can see through this.
Up 27 Down 6
More fear and loathing on Dec 21, 2021 at 7:50 pm
If they really, truly cared about the covid and all of the crap they imposed on the Yukon, they would not have even gone to Vancouver in the first place and lived like the scared peasants they’re trying to make us be.
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Observer on Dec 21, 2021 at 6:18 pm
@ John, who are you to speak of the premier like that. Do you even have a clue who Mr. Silver is? Mr. Silver has put his name forward and ran for office because he had something to offer that was better then what your con buddies were providing. Yukoners have endorsed that thinking twice now, the bottom line is he put his name forward, you think you can do better then take pot shots from the sidelines, step up.
Up 16 Down 27
Hypocrisy?? on Dec 20, 2021 at 11:28 pm
Hey Currie… remember??
ttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-party-boat-cruise-draws-ire-in-legislature-1.2587434
Up 47 Down 13
John on Dec 20, 2021 at 9:37 pm
Truth of the matter is that slippery Silver pulled the plug on the hockey game "when he got advance notice that the NHL was going to announce the cancellation of the games for Saturday and Sunday in Vancouver". So in typical sleazy fashion the Lieberals immediately put out a press release, in advance of the announcement, saying that they have cancelled going to the game. Done why - why to make themselves look good. Gag...
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bonanzajoe on Dec 20, 2021 at 8:43 pm
"with the growing Omicron concern and out of an abundance of caution, Premier Silver and ministers decided not to attend the Yukon Liberal Party fundraiser in Vancouver,” What a crock. They cancelled it because of the opposition and embarrassment it caused them. Is there any truth in these Lieberals?
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Yukoner32 on Dec 20, 2021 at 8:28 pm
Gotta love these fundraising stories constantly targeting the Liberals. It's funny that conservatives always portray themselves as victims of media bias, yet the opposite is true in the Yukon.
Consider this, the biggest Yukon Party donors last year were the SAME businesses and people who were behind the lawsuit to get rid of our health protection measures. Those people also promoted and signed the anti-vaxx petition. Then coincidentally, Brad Cathers and Currie Dixon came out against the vaccine mandates and in support of the anti-vaxxers positions. This is why they had nice long pleasant conversations with the protestors outside of the legislators which you can see in the videos of the event that were released. The same ones screaming at Kate White. Though to be fair, she did lie about people jumping on cars and spitting etc. She was definitely being dramatic about that.
Further to the point, Currie Dixon is either further right politically than all of the conservative premiers including Jason Kenny who endorsed vaccine passports and mandates OR he personally isn't against them but is doing so to keep the big bucks rolling in from the anti-vaxxers. Yet it's crickets from the media. Apparently anti-vaxxers bankrolling the Yukon Party isn't a story.
Even Kate White and the NDP don't get a story for asking union members throughout BC for donations during the last campaign. She even explained in an email that they needed to donate individually so as to appear to be NOT coming from a major union. But no story there either I guess.
Isn't the conspiracy supposed to say that the Liberals bought the media through some bailout? I guess we can put that lie to bed! Or maybe not, I'm sure the conservatives on this comment board will twist themselves into pretzels to explain how the media is still biased against them.
Up 39 Down 9
Jim on Dec 20, 2021 at 8:00 pm
6 hours later. Clearly Sandy and the Slipperies are on this story down thumbing all those that have some sort of common sense.
Sandy Silver… pack your gear up kid, you’re going to the minors, we have no room for you with the direction the club is going in. (That’s a hockey reference) For the baseball people…… Sandy Silver has been DFA’d.
Football people……. Sandy Silver has been released outright.
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laughable on Dec 20, 2021 at 2:47 pm
Someone should ATIPP what actually transpired in communications and decisions. Betcha any money the real truth would be revealed. How did the Liberals and their Exec plan to raise money at $500 a ticket? And who really paid for the travel, accommodations and tickets before the game was cancelled?
Up 97 Down 18
Jim on Dec 20, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Not a chance they cancelled.
Prior to the NHL cancelling the game. Why would they start being smart now?
Sandy is as slippery as the ice. Shadier then a dimly lit room.
Up 82 Down 17
TMYK on Dec 20, 2021 at 1:57 pm
I call BS. The liberals would have put out a press release if they cancelled before it was cancelled for them. Also come on Giilk, the Liberals did not disclose money raised from their last BC fundraiser. This is documented fact. It is also why they have these fundraisers in BC. So they don’t have to disclose donations.
Up 76 Down 13
Yukoner on Dec 20, 2021 at 1:55 pm
Headline: Liberals iced trip before game was axed
Line is article: The game was postponed, apparently after the party made the decision to pull the plug.
How about doing some reporting and actually figuring that out and not just pushing the Liberal press release. Also did Sandy still head down to Vancouver? There were reports of that...
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Matthew on Dec 20, 2021 at 1:47 pm
If anyone believes the Government at this point I've got some ocean front property in Arizona for sale!