Photo: CKRW file.
Official Opposition Leader Currie Dixon offered his thoughts on how the 2023 Spring Sitting of the Yukon legislature went
YUKON – The Yukon Legislative Assembly wrapped up last week with the passing of the 2023 Spring Budget and Yukon Party Leader offered his thoughts.
The new budget rolled out by the Yukon Government highlighted the Yukon’s robust position nationally, by taking real action to make life more affordable for Yukoners and strengthen the healthcare and social services system, while building resiliency to climate change, according to the Government of Yukon.
Official Opposition Leader Currie Dixon offered his thoughts on how the Yukon Liberals managed this sitting and dipped into the situation of family doctors in the territory.
“It continues to be a huge issue facing this territory. You know the opioid deaths that we’ve seen over the last weeks and months have been tragic and sad and so many families are being affected. What I think Yukoners want to see is actual tangible changes in action being taken. For instance, since they declared a substance use emergency we haven’t seen a single new treatment bed made available in the Yukon and we think that’s not the right course of action. We think that we need to see more treatment options we need to see more and better enforcement with support to the RCMP.”
He also commented on the territorial Liberals slapping on more red tape and restrictions, specifically in healthcare, making it difficult to recruit and maintain medical professionals in the Yukon.
Currie also touched on the drug emergency facing the territory.
“From our perspective, it seems that the majority of the new policy announcements that have come from the local government or all policies have been pushed on them by the NDP, in terms of sort of the bigger themes of the sitting. We continue to hear from Yukon businesses that the Yukon government is becoming an obstacle to doing business rather than actually helping make Yukon a good place to do business. We also continue to hear that thousands of Yukoners still don’t have access to a family doctor and we think that’s been made worse by the government’s treatment of doctors.”
Dixon added that the Yukon Government needs to construct a permanent power plant to aid in the electrical woes seen by residents over the winter months.
The Official Opposition stated the Liberal’s plan of renting diesel generators to maintain power is quite alarming.
Here you can listen to the full interview with Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon with The Rush’s Curtis Geroux.
