Ed. note: the leaders of the Liberal Party, the Yukon Party and the NDP reflected on 2021 and 2022 with the Star shortly before the Christmas-New Year’s break. Their thoughts are presented in political analyses here and on p. 5.

Premier Sandy Silver is an optimistic sort of dude.

Last year saw his Liberal party lose its majority status after a spring election, and oversee a cantankerous fall session where two of his higher-profile ministers took a pummelling from the opposition parties over the Hidden Valley School sex abuse scandal.

Silver was definitely preferring to look at whatever “silver” linings he could find when he was talked to the Star in a year-end interview.

Not surprisingly, citing what stood out for him in 2021, the first thing he mentioned was the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines a year ago.

He spent much of the year talking up the shots as the way out of the pandemic with what – at times – seemed a nigh-religious fervour.

“At this time last year (2020), we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the vaccines,” the premier recalled.

It was last January, of course, that the vaccines were first made available to the public.

The government and Yukon public health officials started with seniors in long-term care homes, then expanded clinics to the communities in short order.

Of course, that led to the appalling Beaver Creek incident where two wealthy people from British Columbia scammed their way into receiving shots.

That perhaps wasn’t the most auspicious start to the program, and neither were the initial difficulties in booking shots efficiently at the clinics.

That, however, didn’t deter the optimistic perspective of the premier.

“We were finishing up vaccines before the rest of Canada got started,” Silver boasted.

He also pointed to the introduction of universal child care as one of his highlights.

That announcement came not long before he pulled the trigger on the territorial election in March, amidst a flurry of other announcements.

The territory was one of the earlier jurisdictions in Canada to sign on to a partnership with the federal government to offer the service as part of its “$10-a-day” policy initiative.

“Child-care is extremely important,” Silver said, pointing to the $25 million a year funding promise his Yukon government made.

As well, during the summer, Silver attended the demolition of a former residential school in Lower Post, B.C., just south of the Yukon border. He called that a “historic occasion”, the memory of which will linger with him.

“The ceremony had so much weight,” he said. “And there are many families and survivors of that school in the Yukon. Now it will be converted into a place where the community will gather.”

Silver also pointed to the Yukon’s economy, which is thriving in most ways compared to the rest of Canada.

The territory was one of only two jurisdictions in the country where the economy grew last year, Silver noted.

“We’re in a really good place here in the Yukon, in spite of the chaos that COVID brings,” Silver said. “We had the best growth in Canada.”

That assertion came in the face of the suffering travel and tourism sectors, along with hospitality and accommodations.

It also suggested that Silver was glossing over the glaring problems with housing, and many hundreds of Yukoners unable to find doctors, among other issues.

He didn’t show the same propensity when he discussed the so-called opioid crisis that saw multiple deaths again in 2021. (On Nov. 26, the Yukon Coroner’s Service reported 21 lost lives due to toxic illicit drug use since Jan. 1 of last year, with more deaths currently under investigation.)

Silver pointed to the establishment of rural health-care hubs and the improvement they have brought to the communities, particularly in mental-health services.

More work is needed, he said, but there are now more than 20 workers, where there used to be two.

“Those are major improvements.”

Silver also touched on the historic flooding in the southern Yukon during the past summer. He still sounded astounded that such a “100-year flood” could occur so soon after the 2007 flooding had been awarded the same sobriquet.

“What a season,” he said. “Climate change is in there, with two 100-year floods seen twice in the last two decades.

“It was so powerful to see it. It could have been very devastating.”

Looking to the future, Silver said he is focused on seeing the improvement to social services and health care that implementing the Putting People First policies will bring.

He is also focusing on tackling climate change and growing the economy.

The premier said he is intent on continuing to improve the relationships between the government and Yukon First Nations via avenues such as the Yukon Forum. He revived those gatherings in 2017 after they had lapsed under former premier Darrell Pasloski’s 2011-16 Yukon Party regime.

“There’s a lot of work ahead, and we have to sponsor the right projects,” Silver said. “The future looks good.”