Political round up March 29

Monday, 29 March 2021 15:43

By Dylan MacNeil

Yukon Party leader Currie Dixon Speaks to media March 29

The third week of campaigning for Yukon's 2021 territorial election kicked off today. We round it all up for you.

This morning Yukon Liberal Mountainview candidate Jeanie McLean and Porter Creek South candidate Ranj Pillai announced their party’s Great Yukon Summer Campaign.

The campaign is an effort to get Yukoners to explore the territory and support the tourism industry this summer.

If re-elected, the campaign will create incentive for tourism operators to offer discounted rates to Yukoners, as well, it will provide Yukon businesses with free access to the Yukon government’s marketing agencies.

As part of the campaign, the Liberals will also establish a five hundred-thousand-dollar fund for Yukon organizations to hold local events this summer.

The party also says they will work with the McBride museum to support the creation a new concert series, the Mountain Music Festival.

“This concept is a concert series held throughout the territory in a staged timeline. It would give someone the opportunity to travel from town to town to see different artists or jump on or off the concert circuits to catch an act here or there. We think this is going to be a great stimulus for economic activity in our communities across the Yukon as well as Whitehorse, and again, respecting the need for our amazing artists here and to bring people together.” Says Pillai.

Pillai says the festival would take place in the fall of 2021 and they will work with communities to ensure COVID-19 protocols are in place.

The Yukon Party has announced their plan to address the lack of affordable housing in the territory.

Leader Currie Dixon Made the announcement alongside Takhini-Copper King candidate Morgan Yuill.

“A Yukon Party government will work in partnership to increase land availability for development by working with Yukon First Nations to create mutually beneficial agreements to make settlement land more accessible for residential, commercial, and industrial development. We’ll work with Yukon First Nations to promote confidence and clarity in leased settlement lands as a viable development option. We will release land to allow for private sector development. We’ll work with the city of Whitehorse to plan for residential land development here in the city of Whitehorse beyond Whistlebend. We’ll work with the city of Whitehorse to provide a better variety of lot types including country or residential lots, and then we’ll improve the accountability and transparency of the lot lottery process. Making more land available in all Yukon communities, we will work with municipalities and Yukon First Nations. We’ll also increase the supply of recreational land available to Yukoners, and of course we’ll create a first time land buyer program to increase access to land for the next generation of Yukoners.” Says Dixon.

Dixon went on to say that if his party forms the next government, they will re-introduce the First Time Home Buyer Program and the Down Payment Assistance Program.

Later in the afternoon the Yukon Party issued a press release explaining how they will expand trades opportunities in the territory.

The party says they will create a Skills for Jobs Task force. The task force will identify how to promote apprenticeship education and explore opportunities for expanding apprenticeship to other careers.

The Yukon Party also says they will establish a program for high school students interested in trades called the Trades Centre of Excellence Program.

As well, they will design new programs with Yukon University and industry to address the low-carbon skills gap and investigate the development of an enhanced geology program.

The party also says they will work with Yukon Women in Trades and Technology to encourage more women to enter the trades.

The party also issued a press release that says if they are elected, the will improve highway safety in Watson Lake.

The release reads - On April 15, 2019, Patti McLeod, the Yukon Party candidate for Watson Lake, in her role with the Yukon Party Official Opposition, introduced a petition into the Yukon Legislative Assembly calling on the current government to improve highway safety in her home community. The petition, signed by 373 Watson Lake residents and business owners and operators, called for the installation of essential highway lighting on the Robert Campbell Highway from the junction of Ravenhill Drive and the Robert Campbell Highway to 2 1/2 Mile Subdivision, was ignored by the current government.

Yukon NDP leader Kate White and candidates announced the party’s full platform this morning.

White made a point to make the announcement on the tarmac at Air North because she says the company tells an important story.

“Joe Sparling and Tom Woods started Air North in 1977 to fly into mines and train pilots. And they worked at that for a while and soon that dream grew bigger. It’s a story about partnership and collaboration with a First Nation. After a couple of decades of flying turbo props, it was a partnership with the Vuntut Gwitchin that allowed Air North to expand and buy 737 jets.” Says White.

The platform includes plans to deliver better, more accessible healthcare and make housing affordable for people. The party’s platform also delivers on universal affordable childcare, lays out steps towards small business and tourism recovery, and contains measures aimed at improving the education system. It also promises to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Yukon Party and the Liberal Party have yet to release their full platform.

The election will take place on April 12.