Public Service Excellence
Yukon’s public servants are our family, our neighbours and our friends. Supporting the public service enables them to improve the quality of life for Yukoners through their daily work.
A Yukon Liberal Government will:
- provide political direction, then respect the work of public servants while holding them accountable for the delivery of programs and services to Yukoners;
- generate more opportunities for public servants to build capacity through professional development (internally and externally), and
- review hiring/promotion processes to ensure that they are open and transparent.
Economic and Infrastructure Development
We must invest in the infrastructure of communities, to capitalize on their ambitions and develop their economies in a fiscally responsible manner.
A Yukon Liberal government will:
- support municipalities in the development of community plans and use those plans to inform the direction of community development;
- assist communities in developing “mining within municipality” policies that respect the needs of all residents, while providing certainty for land users and compensation, where appropriate, for miners;
- expand the existing campground infrastructure;
- support necessary investments in basic community infrastructure that is needed to support communities and industry, and
- reduce community reliance on diesel energy.
Prenatal
A healthy pregnancy is the path to a healthy birth. Investments at this critical time of development result in exponential gains in the health of newborns.
A Yukon Liberal Government will:
- support in vitro fertilization by introducing a tax credit to offset the cost of this procedure;
- support and fund regulated midwifery, and
- expand maternal and pre-natal community-delivered supports in the territory including, but not limited to, supporting the delivery of the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, and matching federal funding.
Justice for All
A responsive and culturally relevant justice system will help protect all Yukoners, respect the human rights of incarcerated individuals and provide for rehabilitation that reduces the recidivism rates in the correctional system. Our government will ensure that we amend legislation in order to reflect the priorities we have heard from Yukoners.
A Yukon Liberal Government will:
- work with RCMP, First Nations, the Yukon Police Council and communities to identify ongoing policing priorities and the funding required to implement them;
- develop improved access to justice and alternative support options for both criminal and civil cases;
- expand crime prevention through an environmental design approach to all interested rural and remote communities;
- review the Auditor General’s Report on Corrections and implement relevant recommendations to improve Yukon correctional services;
- develop alternative correctional therapeutic environments for individuals with disabilities, mental health or addictions problems;
- develop programs to assist victims of violent crime and sexual assault in Yukon;
- update the Legal Professions Act and its regulations in order to protect the public’s interests and improve access to legal services;
- amend the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Act to include presumptive provisions for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in first responders;
- conduct a legislative, policy and practice review to ensure the Yukon Government meets rules and social standards for LGBTQ non-discrimination, and
- amend Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to increase the amount of government information available to Yukoners.
Predictable Funding Programs
Community planning only works with adequate funding that matches the planning time frame. Ensuring predictable funding for communities is a priority of the Yukon Liberals and we will work with municipalities and the Association of Yukon Communities to make this a reality.
A Yukon Liberal government will:
- commit to long-term infrastructure investment programs that ensure funding predictability over the medium-term (5-10 years);
- establish a five-year funding plan for the Comprehensive Municipal Grant;
- implement appropriate funding levels for Structural Fire Protection, and
- establish a five-year funding formula for the Municipal Matching Rental Construction Program.