Yukon premier trims cabinet size, makes canny choices
Experienced Vuntut Gwitchin negotiator Pauline Frost takes on environment department
After delivering big in last month's election — taking the Liberals from one seat and third-party status to an 11-seat, majority government — Klondike MLA Sandy Silver took the oath of office Saturday to become the ninth premier of Yukon.
Silver then announced his cabinet, which at six seats (seven if you include Silver as finance minister and Minister of the Executive Council Office), is two seats smaller than the ousted Yukon Party government of Darrell Pasloski.
Here's a look at Silver's cabinet and multiple roles each minister takes on — with many challenges ahead.
Ranj Pillai
Ranj Pillai is not only Deputy Premier, but he's also Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Minister of Economic Development, and Minister responsible for the Yukon Development Corporation and the Yukon Energy Corporation. All of those files fit his experience.
Pillai's background with First Nations development corporations and with influential players in the Yukon business world, such as Northern Vision, make him an obvious fit for these portfolios that are dealing with economic responsibility and growth.
The miners seem to appreciate his appointment too.
"I've known Ranj for about 15 years, and I'm very glad that he is not only the Minister of Energy, Mining and Resources, but as well as economic development, two portfolios that are very important to the placer mining industry," said Jonas Smith, who's with the Klondike Placer Miners' Association.
One of Pillai's biggest challenges will be dealing with the Peel Watershed land use plan, which heads to the Supreme Court of Canada in March.
The Liberals have vowed to reverse the former government's plan, which was meant to protect less than 30 per cent of the land.
Tracy McPhee
As Minister of Justice, Tracy McPhee also fits well into her new file. She's a lawyer and former Yukon ombudsman and privacy commissioner, which gives her experience and training to properly understand and lead the territory's justice system.
McPhee is inheriting some wrinkles that require immediate attention, including the dismal state of affairs at the Whitehorse Correctional Institute, something the Auditor General has taken pains to note.
- FROM 2015 | Yukon justice can do more to rehabilitate inmates: report
-
Northern Indigenous people may face added barriers to rehabilitation in federal prisons
In the education portfolio, McPhee will face the perennial issue of lack of staff in the classrooms, most pointedly the ratio of educational assistants and remedial tutors on the ground.
Pauline Frost
Pauline Frost's appointment to the dual portfolios of health and environment will prove challenging.
The health department is a massive department with equally sizeable deficiencies, the most striking being the nearly complete absence of mental health services for all Yukoners and most especially, those in rural communities.
And by tapping Frost for environment, Silver is telegraphing a clear commitment to his oft-stated pledge of working with First Nations in all aspects of governance.
Frost in charge of the Department of Environment (instead of former Green candidate and climate advocate — and now Liberal minister — John Streicker) signals the Liberals' recognition that First Nations are inherent environmental stewards.
Frost's most pressing task will be to lead the territory in its fight against the U.S.'s intention to commence drilling in the sensitive calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd.
After President George W. Bush's original push to develop the area, Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski introduced a bill last year that would have permitted oil production in the refuge.
President Barack Obama sought to expand the protected area, but now some Yukon politicians believe Donald Trump will push the possible drilling project ahead.
As a Vuntut Gwitchin leader, Frost is a brilliant choice to lead what promises to be a bitter and difficult war.
Jeanie Dendys
Likewise, Jeanie Dendys as Minister of Tourism and Culture and the Minister responsible for the Women's Directorate indicates another priority for Premier Silver: Indigenous culture is arguably inseparable from First Nations' governance.
With a First Nations minister at the helm, Yukon's public face at venues both nationally and internationally will reflect the reality of the territory's social fabric.
As former director of justice at the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, Dendys role with the Women's Directorate, (think the inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women, women's poverty, domestic violence) will be a formidable presence.
Dendys says she firmly intends to raise the profile of what has largely been a neglected portfolio.
John Streicker
As Minister of Community Services, John Streicker makes sense because of his experience as a city councillor in Whitehorse. He'll be responsible for delivering on the Liberal promise to assist municipalities with their headache of dealing with solid waste.
He'll also be the go-to on the commitment to launch a community-based housing retrofit program, a sizeable expectation, considering the need in all rural Yukon.
But the thorniest issue Streicker inherits is that of developing the "mining within municipalities" policies that the Liberals promised. Keeping everyone happy will indeed be a sticky wicket: the Liberals vowed to respect residents' needs while providing certainty and compensation "where appropriate" for miners. Streicker will need to be at his most diplomatic on this file.
-
FROM 2010 | Stop mining within Dawson City limits: activist
-
Opinions clash at Yukon meeting over mining within city limits
-
Yukon assessors recommend against contentious Dome Road mining proposal
-
Decision delayed on controversial Dome Road mining proposal in Dawson
Richard Mostyn
Finally, Richard Mostyn takes on the post of highways and public works. Mostyn, like most of his fellow cabinet ministers, has never been in a political leadership role.
The Liberals courted the unhappy contracting community by offering substantial changes to the way procurement works in the territory, assuring its contractors — and suppliers — get a very fair shake when it comes to government and big industry spending.
This constituency will expect solid deliverables with the first budget. That's likely the easier part of Mostyn's new duties though.
As minister of public works, Mostyn will now have to answer for the enormous capital project that's tarnished before it's even completed: the Whistle Bend extended-care facility. What will it cost to operate and maintain? Will there be problems with the foundation in the future? Has the design been overbuilt, considering that it's going to stay at 150 beds instead of the original 300?
The former journalist may soon learn that asking questions is vastly easier than answering them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
