Photo by Whitehorse Star
Stacey Hassard
Parties trade jibes over rural road repairs
The governing Liberals and the opposition Yukon Party continue to squabble this week.
The governing Liberals and the opposition Yukon Party continue to squabble this week.
On Tuesday morning, the Yukon Party sent out a news release criticizing the Yukon government for its degree of support for rural road issues.
“The Yukon Liberals are showing a lack of support when it comes to roadwork in rural Yukon,” the release declared.
“The Minister of Highways and Public Works (Nils Clarke) indicated in a recent letter that there was no funds available in this year’s capital budget for the Rural Road Upgrade Program (RRUP). The minister said money was tight due to increased construction costs.
“The five-year capital plan released in March does not contain money for the Resource Access Road Program (RARP) until 2025,” the Yukon Party said.
It went on to state, “The Yukon Party official Opposition has brought the roadwork concerns of rural Yukon to the legislative assembly numerous times. Namely, much-needed upgrades to the Takhini River Road north of Whitehorse, and numerous roads in the Dawson goldfields.”
During the spring, Lake Laberge MLA Brad Cathers told the government part of the Takhini River Road was flooding.
“This is yet another example of how the Liberals do not listen or understand the needs of rural Yukon,” said Stacey Hassard, the party’s highways critic and the Pelly-Nisutlin MLA .
“It seems re-paving the parking lot for MLAs is a greater priority to this Liberal government than rural Yukon.”
In response, the government cabinet communications team told the Star, “Yukoners can apply to the Rural Road Upgrade Program and applications will be considered for funding in the next fiscal year.
“For this year, funds have been reallocated to address flood mitigation in specific areas. The government is investing roughly $1.5 million to raise three rural roads in response to flooding concerns.”
The statement said previous Yukon Party governments “left a massive public infrastructure deficit that we are addressing.
“This included resurfacing the parking lot dedicated for public servants at the Yukon Legislative Assembly following complaints from staff across multiple departments and parties – including the Yukon Party.
“The improvements to the parking lot will address the constant flooding, particularly in places where accessibility is an issue, and reduce the costs of yearly maintenance.”
The statement added, “The Government of Yukon is making investments in Yukon roads and highways across the territory that will better serve Yukoners for generations to come.
“This includes investing $337 million, in partnership with the Government of Canada, to reconstruct 209 kilometres on the North Klondike Highway.
“This is one of the largest investments in highway infrastructure in the territory, and is expected to support about 800 jobs for Yukoners over the construction period.
“The Government of Yukon is currently assessing what work will be required to reconstruct the Takhini River Road to a standard that would ensure greater reliability.
“Future reconstruction work may include upgrading the road structure and building drainage ditches.”
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Comments (12)
Up 3 Down 2
YukonMax on Jul 19, 2022 at 8:28 am
YG management has no connection to communities. They're not from up here, no Yukon content whatsoever. They can only go by the book, which is a thin, paperback generic guide that disable their ability to identify and tap into the local capacity.
Up 6 Down 7
MITCH on Jul 15, 2022 at 12:32 pm
I find it odd that, considering we are all supposed to revolutionize transportation, no one is talking about horses or pack animals. I find it disappointing that technology is always the answer, when it is almost never the answer. Money too.
Remember the 9 million dollar bike trail riverfront improvement project? That is where your road maintenance money went. Where did those initial funds for the riverfront come from?...
WEF. Sustainable development grants. They don't want you to have the lives they lived at your expense, they want you incarcerated in workcamps (ahem) I mean, urban density.
I have a better idea - let's sequester these nimby, enviro capitalists' carbon in the ground, deeper than any ground penetrating radar will ever find. Black small businesses in Canada are more important than the environment, as exemplified by our own government. Medical abduction by Service Canada to legislate radical ideology while holding the populace captive and at ransom under medical guidelines. Trudeau being able to do what he wants outside of Canadian law or democratic process is more important than a global pandemic or saving the environment. Practicing racism to equate a level playing field for BIPOC is more important than solving racism. We have so many superficial and hyperactive issues going on and i will tell you why - it is the same reason crack addict will not admit they have a problem and blame everyone else. Because COGNITIVE DISONANCE IN THE FACE OF EXISTENTIAL PERIL TO MORTALITY.
And yes, I got all that, from rural potholes. Government is supposed to maintain social and civil services in exchange for wages paid in taxation, within the budget of taxation coffers. Not educate me on why I am Canada's enemy, when my government is the group that spends my taxation on things like forced sterilization of first nations or covering up residential schools for 60 years from the public or invade unceded territories in BC like a bunch of jackboot British colonial soldiers, or subsiding racial targetted small business while small business (for all Canadians) is in universal decline...I could go on all day about what is wrong with this country, but honestly, if you can't figure it out at a glance like any American visiting worth their salt - YOU ARE THE PROBLEM BEST SOLVED BY ELIMINATION. IGNORANCE WON'T STOP CHANGE, NEVER HAS, NEVER WILL.
I don't think I am on anyone's "side" anymore.
Up 6 Down 4
Vlad on Jul 14, 2022 at 6:04 pm
@woodcutter…perhaps you missed the gist of the article. They were referring to the RRUP and RARP, these are roads outside of the common rural roads but are rural all the same and fall under the guise of HPW. The fact that there has been no monies allocated under these 2 programs is what’s problematic. There should always be a few dollars in these programs. This government wants Agriculture up and running, well this takes the infrastructure you believe is fine when actually is doesn’t exist.
Up 5 Down 14
woodcutter on Jul 14, 2022 at 1:09 pm
lmfao - there is road upgrades and infrastructure projects going on all over the place, thanks to the contributions and efforts of current government and yes even past efforts of the YP.
Stacey is prob upset that he has been pretty much nullified as a political asset due to his boorish and misogynistic behaviour that has tainted him for life. To complain about rural roads is the YP grabbing at any subject to try to regain relevance and of Course Brad needs to be seen as the champion of the riding by complaining about some flooding on a road due to the extreme snow fall we had.
As if this is not loony enough the comments by the obvious radical right is just over the top. Of course its Karl Marx, and JT fault as to consider otherwise is to look inward and come to a realization why the YP cant win an election even when their campaigns mimic the Victorious Liberals platforms. I
The rural roads are fine, a few days with a grader will set them up perfect, and hey, you choose to live at the end of the dirt track, so it's your responsibility to ensure you got the right gear to get to where you want to go. When the road is not passable due to some natural calamity then I can see an emergency repair.
You're not getting work on the bridge project in Telsin, you need to try to blow life into the dead horse called rural roads ? Perhaps waiting for a real issue is not the chicken little style that the YP has come to be known for.
Up 11 Down 3
Community Resident on Jul 14, 2022 at 12:51 pm
Patti Eyre and Wilf...... no where do I see Teslin is in desperate need of HPW road repair, so how would their private business be affected when they won't travel to the North Klondike Hwy or the Destruction Bay to Beaver Creek for those jobs, there's enough going on already in Teslin and they are NOT the only company in Teslin that is benefitting from all the "work" .... sorry but those ridings are in other jurisdictions... he's just the opposite member to the current Minister's Portfolio
Up 9 Down 7
Postmodernist Torments on Jul 13, 2022 at 11:52 pm
At Pierre on Jul 13, 2022 at 4:27 pm:
Potholes and culverts are luxuries within the corporate structure. These and other decadences such as a functional health care system, an education system that teaches without propagandizing, and a socioeconomic system not predicated on the inflationary principle of just printing more money…
A Liberal Bolshevism has gripped the national mood and it’s administrators are hard at work to make the great reset happen. Like the canary in a coal mine, Canada will represent the cautionary tale of societal level breakdown through the weaponization of diversity - One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them…
Up 9 Down 14
Patti Eyre on Jul 13, 2022 at 7:09 pm
Wilf is Right! Staci just wants to throw money out to his contracting family and friends who’ll build and upgrade private roads on public money good grief!
Up 9 Down 10
bonanzajoe on Jul 13, 2022 at 5:07 pm
But hey, shutting down gas engines and turning to EVs is going to bring the world into a utopian state. At least that what the JT and other followers of Karl Marx tells us. And since there will be no more jobs in the oil and gas and mining industries, there will be plenty of road crew flag person jobs.
Up 40 Down 8
Pierre on Jul 13, 2022 at 4:27 pm
There has been no monies allocated in the RRUP for the past 2 years, there was monies always allocated under the Yukon Party, that’s just a fact. My question is: has this present government given back any monies to the feds in the last 2 years? Hard to believe of all the millions spent they couldn’t allocate a few bucks you know maybe for put holes, culverts or the like.
Up 27 Down 17
Wilf Carter on Jul 13, 2022 at 3:13 pm
If any one but Stacy H is talking I believe it but it's not the case. Stacy is looking for work for his family business first. Do you think that Haines Junction, Teslin, Watson Lake, Faro, Ross River, are going get any support because they are Yukon Party riding? Sandy is practicing good old NS politics and only spends money where liberals benefit like liberals in Carmack and Dawson.
Up 24 Down 11
BnR on Jul 13, 2022 at 3:04 pm
“This is yet another example of how the Liberals do not listen or understand the needs of rural Yukon,” said Stacey Hassard,
Seriously Stacey?
Rural road issues have been ongoing under since well before you put on your politicians hat.
Ask Brad about farmers plowing up the Takhini river road when they were mad about the shape it was in.
Up 45 Down 12
John on Jul 13, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Folks, the drivel being emitted from this government is a kin to swallowing bison droppings thinking it is a wonderful smorgasbord.
Seven years and they are still throwing stones over the shoulder and the invisible enemy that is chasing them down. Only to realize that the enemy lay within...