Yukon government lays out priorities in 1st speech from the throne

The Yukon government says it will put the brakes on a number of programs and and initiatives started by the last territorial government, including a rent cap, and a recycling program.

The Yukon Party is also vowing to restructure the education department, review the territory's immigration policies, and tackle crime by investing more in the justice system.

Those were among the priorities laid out by Premier Currie Dixon in a speech from the throne delivered in the legislature on Monday. It was the first sitting day at the legislature since Dixon's Yukon Party ousted the Liberals in last month's election.

The speech, read in the legislature by Commissioner Adeline Webber, took some shots at the previous government, for "wrongheaded policy and bad decisions" that it says has made life expensive and homeownership out of reach for many Yukoners.

"In a territory as land rich as Yukon, this is as tragic as it is unacceptable," Webber read.

The speech reiterated a number of campaign promises from the Yukon Party including:

The government has also promised to "pause and reassess" the extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for recycling, saying the program is "imposing increased costs and red tape on small business."

The EPR program came into effect at the beginning of 2024 and is intended to shift the cost of recycling materials from governments and taxpayers to the producers of those materials. That means the cost of recycling is taken on by brand distributors and franchises, and also some local Yukon businesses. 

The speech also reiterated the Yukon Party's focus on crime, and said the new government "will take decisive action to tackle the current crime wave."

"It was not too long ago that the territory boasted some of the safest communities in Canada. Now Whitehorse has a violent crime rate surpassing many big cities across North America — a shocking development for those who grew up here," Webber read.

Along with a review of the emergency shelter, the government says it will work with RCMP to strengthen enforcement, and to "better address repeat and violent offenders and their supervision in our communities." It also says it will push for bail reform in Canada.

The government also says it will "support the rights of legal gun owners in this territory," and that Yukon will not participate in the federal government's firearms buyback program.

Speaking to reporters after the speech on Monday, Official Opposition Leader Kate White said she was concerned by what she'd heard, but she was "still trying to process it."

"To be perfectly frank, there's so many concerns that it's going to be really hard to go through it," she said.