Lewis Rifkind's blog

Liberals in the Yukon and Trump in the White House not a good sign for the territory's environment

Lewis Rifkind — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 08:45:39 +0000

In the last week the outcomes of two elections have defied the optimists on the left.

The first, of course, was the Yukon territorial election. While some were fervently hoping for a Yukon New Democratic Party minority government, others had convinced themselves that a NDP majority government was possible. They were even willing to concede that a Yukon Liberal Party minority government in partnership with the NDP could happen.

Alas, it was not to be. The Liberals swept to power with eleven of the nineteen seats available. The conservative Yukon Party, the outgoing governing party, got six seats and the NDP only got two.

Now, a Yukon Liberal government is not the end of the world. They will be a damn sight better than the previous government.

Yukon heads to the polls tomorrow

Lewis Rifkind — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 04:33:36 +0000

Monday November 7th is election day in the Yukon. Voters will be heading for the polls to elect the next territorial government.

Actually, let us backtrack for a moment. About four fifths of eligible voters will be heading for the poll because 5,284 Yukoners already voted at advance polls. Given that there are only about twenty-five thousand eligible voters in the territory this advance voting certainly shows interest is high among the electorate. And, as an aside, high turnouts at advance polls tend to be bad news for incumbent parties.

Yukon election polls are in but are they on?

Lewis Rifkind — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 06:53:45 +0000

Much to the Yukon political junkies delight two polls have been released in the last few days in the territory. They allegedly interpret the intentions of voters for the territorial election that ends on Nov. 7.

DataPath Systems, a local Yukon company, released the results of their survey based on results from Oct. 15 to 23. They were not commissioned by anyone nor any party, they did it on their own. Their survey had the following figures: the Liberal Party and Yukon Party at 34 per cent, the Yukon New Democrats at 29 per cent and the Green Party at three percent.

Yukon advertising is the real election winner

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 02:25:36 +0000

With just a week left in the Yukon 2016 territorial election it turns out the real winners so far are those that sell advertising for a living.

The local papers seem to be carrying nothing but paid political copy, and those radio stations that air commercials are drowning their listeners in the audio equivalent.

Yukon Greens got some good ideas

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 06:31:44 +0000

The Yukon Green Party is running five candidates in the 2016 Yukon territorial election. Come voting day on November 7th it is highly unlikely any of them will have been elected to the legislature. This is a pity, because their platform has some damn good ideas in.

Yukon political debates and other vicious sports

Lewis Rifkind — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 04:46:03 +0000

The Yukon 2016 territorial election is well underway. The list of candidates has been finalized. Three parties -- the governing Yukon Party, the opposition Yukon New Democrats and the third party Yukon Liberals -- are running full slates of nineteen candidates, the Yukon Greens have put forward five candidates, and there is one independent. Voting day is on Nov. 7.

The North sends thee a raven

Lewis Rifkind — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:32:18 +0000

The year is 2016 and Trudeau, second of his name, rules this Dominion of Canada. Here, in his most distant possession, the dukes and barons of the territory of Yukon joust, as they do every five years, to see who will become the ruling lord and thus avail themselves of the bounty that flows each year from Trudeau's treasury.

Hot air in the cool North

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 05:31:09 +0000

A funny thing happened when the Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski popped into the local supermarket to perhaps pick up some groceries. He called a territorial election.

This election call was no surprise. An election had to be called this month as the current five year mandate has expired. What was a bit odd was having the photo opportunity of the election call at a grocery store. The fresh produce aisle, if you must know.

Why I'm voting for the NDP in the Yukon

Lewis Rifkind — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 01:12:10 +0000

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There are many progressive voters in the Yukon who are agonizing over who to vote for in this federal election.

Yukon First Nations could decide who represents the territory

Lewis Rifkind — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 06:36:06 +0000

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At the Yukon First Nation Forum for the Federal candidates held on September 29th, hosted by the Council of Yukon First Nations, it was a packed house of over two hundred people in beautiful downtown Whitehorse. All the political parties were represented, including the Conservative candidate. He has attended some but not all of the various debates held in the Yukon. This debate was broadcast on a First Nation owned community radio station, CHON-FM, and was live-streamed on YouTube.

Conservative Yukon MP risks missing all-candidate debates at his peril

Lewis Rifkind — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 04:02:19 +0000

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Federal tax dollars, the Yukon and a deep dark abyss

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 03:13:03 +0000

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Living in the Yukon Territory means one is exposed to a financial fantasyland that is paid for by southern taxpayer dollars. There are transfer payments of about $900 million a year to the Yukon Territorial government to provide services to the roughly 35,000 residents. In addition there is the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, the Northern Housing Fund and the Green Infrastructure Fund (naming but a few) to provide additional taxpayer dollars. These would seem to be flung around as if the government was a drunken sailor on a payday spree.

The Yukon, the municipalities and the voters

Lewis Rifkind — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 21:15:34 +0000

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Thanks to the fixed election date for the federal election, and the same for Yukon municipalities and local councils, there is a twin political campaign process underway in the Yukon. The municipal and local council elections are on October 15th and the federal election is on October 19th.

Conservative Yukon candidate dresses up like a ninja, handcuffs woman defacing his campaign sign in dead of night

Lewis Rifkind — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 03:36:07 +0000

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Ryan Leef, the incumbent Conservative Party MP for the Yukon, performed a citizen's arrest on a Yukoner who was vandalizing his re-election signs. You can read the first-person details here and the CBC North coverage here.

Prime Minister in Whitehorse; no tuba players please

Lewis Rifkind — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 01:42:48 +0000

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The Prime Minister is coming to town on Friday and I am sorely disappointed.

I was hoping for a couple more days notice so I could teach myself to play the tuba. Then I could follow him around playing the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars. It would be good for a laugh. And one thing most people in power cannot abide is being laughed at. But alas, there was not enough notice.

On Monday it was leaked that the Yukon branch of the Conservative Party was inviting loyal followers to register for a function where the Prime Minister would be present.

The wrong Yukon candidate -- and a lonely soy latte

Lewis Rifkind — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 04:27:10 +0000

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There has been confusion at the coffee shop.

Someone was impatient in the latte lineup and walked off with someone else's beverage before their own was ready.

This means they left on the counter a soy latte.

And no -- one else wanted it.

Once the fuss was sorted out and people had received their caffeinated drink of choice the lonely soy latte was left on the counter.

No -- one claimed it, and it was still there when I left.

Signs in the wilderness of Yukon electioneering

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 05:42:53 +0000

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The battle of the 2015 federal election candidates lawn signs has commenced in the Yukon Territory's capital city of Whitehorse.

While it is probably extremely foolhardy to forecast the election results based on the proliferation of these signs, especially so early in the campaign, it does provide a glimpse into voters probable intentions.

Once someone has got a lawn site up, they probably are not going to change their voting intentions.

Yukon youth of today

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 03:03:24 +0000

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In the Yukon, as no doubt in other ridings, there is much hand wringing over what can be done to get out the youth vote.

As the reader might be aware, the percentage of youth voting is down compared with the rest of the population.

In the Yukon for the 2011 Federal election, 39 per cent of males and 42 per cent of females aged 18 to 24 voted. Compare that with 72 per cent and 71 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64.

Now there are various movements afoot to get Youth to vote.

Yukon senator decides on territory's (and his) best interests

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 04:07:38 +0000

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Well, Danny done gone and said it.

He stood up in an interview with the CBC on July 28 and said: "We did not become the country we are today in spite of our political institutions. We became the country we are today because of our political institutions."

Oh, forgive me, you probably don't know Danny. Most Yukoners do, however. That is because Dan Lang is the senator for the Yukon, appointed by Harper back in 2008.

Yukon federal candidates in place

Lewis Rifkind — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 23:45:28 +0000

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It was a hot and sultry Tuesday evening up North in the first week of July. A perfect evening for the Yukon Federal NDP nomination meeting.

The New Democrats from across the Territory had gathered to not only select the NDP candidate but also to hear Nathan Cullen, the MP from the riding just to the south, speak. And in fine form he was.

Winter arrives with the Yukon conservatives

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:35:03 +0000

The conservative Yukon Party has swept to a third majority government in the Yukon Territory this week.

As if to confirm this grim news the sun did not come out yesterday morning in Whitehorse, the Yukon's capital, preferring to remain hidden behind some very dark snow-laden clouds.

This was the election that actually saw issues being discussed.

Protection of the Peel Watershed was, on the environmental front, the defining point.

The Yukon Party refused to commit to implementing an almost-finalized land use management plan that would have seen eighty per cent of this watershed protected.

The Liberals and the New Democrats did commit to this, and the voters did reward them with a combined sixty per cent of the vote.

The Yukon election is actually about issues

Lewis Rifkind — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:43:55 +0000

The Yukon Territory is going to the polls on October 11, the day after Thanksgiving.

There are three main parties running: the incumbent Yukon Party (conservative right down to the Tory blue on their election signs), the Liberals and the New Democrats.

The Yukon Party and the Liberals are running in all 19 ridings and the Dippers have 18 candidates.

Two smaller groups have put forward candidates -- the First Nations Party has three names on the ballets and the Yukon Greens are running in two ridings.

There are also two independent candidates, including the iconic Elvis Aaron Presley.

It's his real name, and he is running with the slogan "Be A Hound Dog, Vote Elvis Presley, Make Yukon Graceland."

Northern reflections on a Conservative future

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:42:11 +0000

Results from North of Sixty for the federal election were bad, then good, then bad again.

Looking at the big media election maps, the North was coloured blue, orange and then blue as one scrolled across the continent.

Hence the bad/good/bad reference.

Two incumbents held onto their seats -- the Conservatives' Aglukkaq in Nunavut and NDP's Bevington in the Northwest Territories.

Aglukkaq was a cabinet minister in the previous Harper government, and if she gets the nod again the North will be at the cabinet table.

Even if it is a Conservative cabinet table, it is still probably a good idea to have some representation there.

Strangers in the northern land

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:04:11 +0000

There we were, a couple of quiet northern Canadian Territories, participating in a nice polite way in the 2011 Canadian federal election.

Then, the strangers showed up and everything changed.

But first, to give an idea how polite things up north are one just had to pop into last week's arts and culture debate in Whitehorse.

Not only did all the Yukon candidates attend they all essentially agreed on everything.

The most contentious issue was how to get a Yukon painting in the National Gallery.

Changing Northern expectations

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:58:14 +0000

Northern communities are not, to steal a quote from the rich, like yours or mine.

For one thing, they are more Northern. And for the purposes of this blog Northern is defined as being in one of Canada's three territories.

In the spirit of full disclosure this particular blogger lives in Whitehorse. It is arguably one of the most southerly of Northern communities, both in geographic location and more importantly in on-site services and psychological outlook.

But being a community in the North usually means a degree of remoteness, and a lack of services, that other Canadians take for granted.

This could run the gauntlet of not having a community doctor to there being only one, or sometimes no, grocery store.

Nunavut gets to participate in the 'guns versus butter' debate

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:23:35 +0000

Everyone should know by now that Nunavut has enough social problems to make your head spin.

For graphic descriptions of this the Globe and Mail has recently been running a series of articles that lays bare all.

Suicide rates are off the charts, substance abuse problems are fragmenting communities and there is a housing shortage that makes one wonder if Nunavut is part of this continent, let alone Canada.

But let us not forget that like any other riding in Canada there are a multitude of other issues that have to be addressed.

To their credit the local candidates for the federal election have been raising some of this 'multitude' in their campaigns.

Northwest Territories candidates start their engines

Lewis Rifkind — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:52:41 +0000

When the territory of Nunavut was created by dividing the old Northwest Territories into two political entities there was some discussion in the north about what the western half of the old Northwest Territories should be called.

The 'rest-of-it' was a popular choice, but no doubt cartographers breathed a sigh of relief when the Northwest Territories name was retained.

It is confusing, as the Yukon Territory is actually the western most territory in Canada, and the Yukon community of Beaver Creek on the Alaskan border is actually the most westerly community in Canada. Their strictly unofficial motto is "You're all easterners to us."

To befuddle things more, the Northwest Territories seat in the House of Commons is called the riding of Western Arctic.

Most Yukon candidates start running

Lewis Rifkind — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:43:13 +0000

The federal election for 2011 is well underway in the three northern Canadian territories. Not all the parties have put forth candidates yet, but it is anticipated this will be done by the end of the week. The issues these candidates will have to face from the electorate reflect the rather unusual circumstances of the Canadian North. Today's blog entry looks at the Yukon issues and candidates (the NWT and Nunavut will be covered in the next few days).