Yukon budget critics raise concerns about money for health care, rural land development

Representatives of the Yukon opposition parties, labour unions and municipalities are speaking out about the new territorial budget, saying the government needs to do more to improve healthcare and housing access. 

Yukon Federation of Labour president Teresa Acheson and Yukon NDP leader Kate White both questioned whether increases in health spending were enough to meet the needs in the territory.

Acheson, Yukon Party leader Currie Dixon, and Association of Yukon Communities president Ted Laking, meanwhile, all criticized the government for not doing more on land development.

"The government has not reversed their cuts from last year, in which they cut the rural land development budget in half," Laking said.

"In 2022, the government of Yukon had been investing $13.5 million annually in rural land development, and now they're projecting by 2026 to reduce that down to $2 million per year. And so that's an 85 per cent cut over four years."

The Yukon government tabled the budget Thursday, saying it is tackling the rising cost of living, investing in health care, education and infrastructure, and addressing pressing issues like the climate crisis and substance use health emergency.

"We're improving life for all Yukoners,"  Finance Minister Sandy Silver said in his budget speech. 

But Laking called the cut to rural land development "drastic" and said it's not the right decision when the territory needs more land developed in communities. 

Acheson agreed, saying that the territory is currently turning people away, even if it has jobs for them. 

And employers struggling to find workers are not sure where to house them if they find them. 

Yukon Party leader Dixon said that when it comes to housing, he wants to see the government focus on lot development instead of government-owned, government-run housing. There's a role for the latter, he said, but there's also a role for market housing and new home construction.

"Any time you see a lot lottery come out, you see that the demand is way more than than the supply," he said.

"So I think that we'd like to see them doing more to get more land out."

The Yukon Party would like to see the Liberals encouraging the rental market and the development of private sector rental housing, Dixon said.