Candidates hope to win over a skeptical Watson Lake, Yukon

In the Watson Lake Canada Post, a stream of residents coming to pick up letters and packages express apathy towards the upcoming election. 

"I think it's just going to be more of the same old thing," said Cedric Job. "The mayor and council are just switching places, and they basically didn't do a lot for the town as far as I'm concerned." 

Job is referring to outgoing Mayor Chris Irvin, currently running for council, and mayoral candidate and councillor Lauren Hanchar. 

Others, passing through, describe the sitting mayor and council as a "boys' club" who don't encourage new industry and new business. 

That view is shared by mayoral candidate Robert Ellis, a construction worker and long-time Watson Lake resident. 

"Right now our property taxes are the same as Whitehorse," he said. "You don't even have transit service, or water, or sewer to most of our lots. No garbage pickup. If you want to charge taxes like that you've got to provide a service."

Ellis says his leadership skills would help create "big changes to this little town." Those changes would start, he said, with a different approach to collaboration.

"No one gets along in this town," he said. "We've got to bring the people together so we can work together. People often speak before they think rather than sitting and listening."  

He says he's frustrated by what he sees as a lack of creative solutions coming from the municipal office. 

"A lot of people like to say, well, we can't do that because YTG is in charge. Well, why don't you find a solution? 'Can't' isn't a word that works." 

The town of Watson Lake, home to around 1400 people, has had the same mayor for what he describes as "one and a half terms" – Irvin was voted in following a by-election in 2020. Now, he's hoping to continue to return to serving the town as a councillor. 

"I've got a lot on my plate, a young child, two businesses, and to do the best job I can I'd like to step back a little bit and follow someone else's leadership, and continue to instill some of my passion for Watson Lake," Irvin explains. 

Irvin owns and operates several businesses in Watson Lake, such as the gas station, TAGS, and the grocery store, Super A. 

When asked about the criticisms of his tenure, he said he disagrees that his government has ever discouraged local business or industry. 

"We haven't changed anything that would discourage business," he said. "As a business man, I want to see more business in Watson Lake, I want to see growth, I want people to have the same opportunities I have." 

He said council has worked hard over the past four years to improve the town. 

"We're brought the municipality from near-bankruptcy to flourishing," he said. "We have a very comfortable bankroll, we have lots of money in gas tax which we're spending on infrastructure. We've got new street lights out to two mile, we're doing a ton of work on the rec centre, our municipal services building is beautiful, state of the art…"

He said the town has also budgeted to bring in two new "desperately needed" fire trucks and improvements to local playgrounds.  

Mayoral candidate Lauren Hanchar has two terms as a councillor under her belt and is currently president of the Association of Yukon Communities. 

She says while it might not always be clear to residents what the municipality does, council has worked hard to advocate on behalf of the town to secure funding for crucial infrastructure projects. 

Watson Lake is currently set to receive new water and sewer lines, road and drainage improvements, and a new sewage lift station.

She said she recognizes that residents are feeling squeezed. 

"We have always tried to keep the taxes in this town as low as possible and I'm very cognizant of the fact that people cannot afford much more than what they're paying," she said. "We're always looking for ways to cut costs and do things as effectively as possible." 

If elected, Hanchar is hoping to spend time engaging with the public to get feedback on how the municipality is doing and improve communicate about ongoing projects. 

"I'm passionate about the things that are important to me – especially this town." 

When asked if he had any advice for Watson Lake's new mayor, Irvin said not to get overwhelmed by all the details and to remember who you are and why you ran in the first place. 

"You're never going to please everybody," he said. "Small town and rural elections are really tough… I think they're some of the toughest."