Analysis | Election notebook: Housing and health care up first in Yukon campaign
Liberal Leader Mike Pemberton, left, NDP Leader Kate White, middle, and Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon at a debate earlier this week in Whitehorse. (Photo : Julien Greene/CBC)
By Chris Windeyer
Week one of the Yukon election campaign brought us some big swings from the Yukon Party and the NDP on health care.
It’s true that health care is an ever-useful cudgel for opposition parties to beat a governing party with. But it’s also true that health care is legitimately important, particularly in a territory where, according to the Yukon Medical Association (YMA), just 78 per cent of residents have regular access to primary health care — the lowest percentage in the country.
Indeed, the YMA has been running a campaign of its own on the need for major change to the territory’s health care system.
The Yukon Party rolled out a major suite of health care promises this week, headlined by an expansion of Whitehorse General Hospital. Leader Currie Dixon said his party would build a new surgical unit and add 40 more beds.
It would be the third major addition to the hospital in a decade: a new emergency department opened in 2017 and a new mental health unit started accepting patients earlier this year.
Dixon would not say what the project might cost, but he did say he’d be willing to borrow to pay for it.
The Yukon Party is also pledging to expand home care, build a new continuing care facility in Watson Lake and start planning for a new continuing care centre in Whitehorse.
The NDP also issued a torrent of announcements on health care, starting with what it calls a family doctor guarantee. The Yukon government has struggled to attract new doctors in recent years, so the New Democrats say they guarantee doctors will get invoices paid within 60 days, and offer relocation assistance for doctors who want to move to the territory.
The NDP also wants to expand the nursing program at Yukon University and staff up health centres by hiring 10 nurse practitioners to work in the communities, which have been particularly hard hit by staff shortages of late.
The Liberals didn’t offer any specific promises on health care this week, but Leader Mike Pemberton says he does plan to follow through on the creation of the Yukon’s planned new health authority. The other two leaders are less enthusiastic about the plan.
But the Liberals did offer some promises on another hot-button issue: housing.
They say they’ll release 1,000 new lots over four years and offer incentives for municipalities to develop brownfield and abandoned lots, offer more modular houses and find more sources of gravel for contractors.
The Yukon Party, meanwhile, says it plans to eliminate some permitting steps and simplify others. It also wants to scrap some fees and start planning on a new subdivision for Whitehorse.
Nothing yet from the NDP on housing, although it did criticize the Liberals in the runup to the campaign over contractors’ complaints about the cost of lots.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Elections Canada apologizes to Nunavik voters left out of vote, CBC News
Greenland: Greenland’s new parliament convenes for first time amid Trump pressure, Thomson Reuters
