Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon thanks supporters and fellow party members after securing a majority government on Nov. 3. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – In the Yukon Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Liberal MLA Debra Leigh-Reti, representing Old Crow, moved a motion urging the Yukon government to do what it can to help protect the Porcupine caribou herd.
The motion called for YG to work with the federal government in its efforts to seek permanent protections for the herd’s calving grounds on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. It passed unanimously.
More contentious was NDP MLA Lane Tredger’s motion calling for a public inquiry into the failures at the Eagle Gold mine, the Minto mine, and the Wolverine mine. Supported by all NDP representatives and the lone Liberal, that motion was voted down by the governing Yukon Party.
Thursday was the final day of the two-week fall sitting, which Premier Currie Dixon noted had been necessary in order to ensure the government was fully funded through to the end of the fiscal year in March. “It was short, it was sweet, but we were able to get it done,” said Dixon.
The legislature will not sit again until after the upcoming Arctic Winter Games.
