Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai discusses the Fall 2023 Sitting of the Yukon Legislative Assembly

Monday, 4 December 2023 12:21

Premier Ranj Pillai speaks with reporters on the last day of the Fall 2023 sitting. (Photo, S. Bonell)

Pillai shared his thoughts on the Supplementary Budget, health care criticisms, and the first ever Intergovernmental Forum to be hosted in Ottawa.

The Fall 2023 sitting of the Yukon Legislative Assembly wrapped up on November 23. In an interview with CHON-FM, Yukon Ranj Pillai shared his thoughts on how the session went for the government. Aside from passing amendments to the Registered Nurses Act and the Environment Act, the Liberal Government had one big goal this fall.

“We needed to get a supplementary budget passed,” said Pillai. “And, of course, we were working through the fact that we had a collective agreement that we had signed off, and we had to make sure that the funds were in place to accomplish that work.”

“One of the key conversations throughout the fall session was around healthcare. And there was about $17 million in this supplementary budget that was going towards healthcare, and we wanted to get that in place.”

“One recurring theme in the sitting was near-endless criticism regarding healthcare system failures and underfunding. According to Pillai, many of the points brought up at the Legislative Assembly were misinformation.

“You’ve got the official opposition saying, ‘look, we held government to account on some things.’ I think what’s sad is that, when you look at what happened, there was a lot of comments made around healthcare. And there were comments, primarily that were led by the member for Lake Laberge [Brad Cathers]. So we had weeks of these comments being made and information being put out.”

“And then, when it was time to sit with the Hospital Corporation […], what we saw was [that] the majority of what the member for Lake Laberge was saying on behalf of the Yukon Party was completely challenged. And actually, in most cases, what we found out was he was flat wrong.”

Pillai said he feels optimistic about his government’s involvement with Yukon First Nation, as he attends the quarterly Yukon Forum, and is also attending the Intergovernmental Forum, being held in Ottawa today.

“There’s a number of federal ministers that’ll be there, and they’ll have a chance to hear first-hand what our First Nations leaders and Yukon government feel are really important things on our list of priorities. And we’re doing that because this year’s the 50^th year for Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow, and it’s a respect for all those First Nations leaders that had the vision to do that work. And here we are 50 years later.”

“Grand Chief [Peter Johnston] had said to me it was really important that when we do this work, we show that 50 years later, which was the whole idea, that all levels of government are working collectively for the good of Yukoners and the good of First Nations people across this territory.”