Latest news with #ElectionsYukon
CBC
23-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Elections Yukon gearing up for plebiscite on electoral reform
Social Sharing Yukon voters will be going back to the polls later this year, this time to elect a legislative assembly with more members than before. And voters will also be given a second ballot this year — about electoral reform. Elections Yukon plans to conduct a plebiscite to gauge public support for the current electoral system — first-past-the-post, where the candidate with the most votes in a riding is elected — or if there's support to change to a ranked-ballot system. The move follows a recommendation last year from a citizen's assembly of randomly selected Yukon residents who advised the territory to switch to a ranked-ballot system. Premier Ranj Pillai responded by announcing a territory-wide plebiscite on the issue. Maxwell Harvey, Yukon's chief electoral officer, said the plebiscite will ask voters a yes-or-no question about whether the territory should adopt a ranked-ballot system or stick with the status quo. The wording of the question will be determined by the government, with input from Elections Yukon, and is expected to be announced by early summer. "We will have an opportunity, Elections Yukon, to provide input into the question, to give any kind of advice, considerations that we believe the government should consider," Harvey said. "It's a non-binding plebiscite to the voters to express public opinion." Ranked-ballot systems can vary but in essence they mean that if no candidate in a riding gets at least 50 per cent of ballots cast, voters' second or even third choices would be used to ultimately determine the winner. But one electoral reform advocate says she's not happy about what she considers the plebiscite's narrow focus. Sally Wright, with Fair Vote Yukon, says proportional representation should also be on the ballot this fall. "What ranked vote doesn't have, and proportional representation does have, is you have two votes with proportional representation — one for the the candidate and one for the party," she said. "It detaches the candidate from the party so that voter has a better way to express themselves." She said she's hopeful Elections Yukon will reconsider adding proportional representation as an option. The Yukon Party said it thinks the whole thing is a waste of time. "While we respect the work of the Citizens' Assembly, the entire exercise consumed substantial resources and will continue to do so if it directs a change to the voting system," a party spokesperson said. "We feel that the time, money, and energy being devoted to this entire process would be better prioritized in addressing the many challenges facing Yukoners." A spokesperson for the Liberal government said it will take no position on the plebiscite. "Our stance has been that any potential change to our electoral system should be decided by Yukoners, not by whichever party is in power at the time," the spokesperson said. The NDP, which has traditionally been the biggest partisan backer of electoral reform, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harvey said the plebiscite will be conducted in a way similar to the general election, and on the same day. When voters go to the polls, they'll be given two ballots — one to select their MLA, and one to vote on the plebiscite. Harvey said there will be additional support at polling stations, including plebiscite officers, on voting day. In the meantime, Harvey said, Elections Yukon will focus on ensuring that voters know about and understand the plebiscite, and have the information they need to make an informed choice. The territorial election — and therefore the plebiscite — is scheduled to happen on Nov. 3, but could be called earlier. The governing Liberals are currently in the midst of a leadership race to replace Premier Ranj Pillai, who is resigning. The party is scheduled to choose their next leader on June 1 9. Yukon's electoral map has also been redrawn since the last general election, with two new ridings in Whitehorse and some changes to existing districts. The changes were recommended by an independent commission and approved by MLAs last year. That means the next legislative assembly will have 21 members, up from the current 19.
CBC
14-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Yukon agencies making much ado about nothing, gov't says in response to budget dispute
Yukon's finance minister says the territory's ombudsman and its child and youth advocate are overreacting with some "rhetorical excess" by claiming potential government interference in the budgeting process for their offices. And the minister says a petition by those offices to Yukon Supreme Court is essentially asking the court to interfere where it shouldn't — and should therefore be tossed out. Ombudsman Jason Pedlar and child and youth advocate Annette King went to court last month in a bid to get finance department officials to butt out of the budgeting process for independent offices of the Legislative Assembly, including theirs along with the information and privacy commissioner, the public interest disclosure commissioner, and Elections Yukon. They accuse the territory's finance department of "unlawful intervention" in setting their annual budget and they've asked the court for a writ of mandamus — essentially, an order forcing the government to do something set out in law. The dispute flared up in November, when Pedlar, King, and Maxwell Harvey, the chief electoral officer, all complained finance department officials vetoed budget increases for their offices. At issue is the question of who precisely has the final say on budgets submitted by independent offices of the assembly. The court petition asserts that the budgets approved for each office by the assembly's all-party members services board should be approved as-is by the finance minister, before being included in the annual budget. In a response filed to court last week, Finance Minister Sandy Silver rejects their complaints, calling them "speculative and premature." The minister argues that he has not yet tabled the annual budget — that's expected next month — and so the suggestion of political interference by his office is a "purely speculative hypothetical question," and the issue is not a "live dispute." "The materials make frequent reference to 'political interference' as a basis for immediate court action. However, this disturbing assertion turns out to be a matter of rhetorical excess rather than of fact or evidence," the minister's response reads. Just following the law, minister argues It also says the finance department is simply following territorial legislation laid out in the Financial Administration Act. That act spells out the role of the government's management board in the budgeting process. Silver's actions to date "are fully authorized by, and in complete compliance with, the Financial Administration Act," his response reads. The minister also suggests that the Yukon Supreme Court is essentially being asked to violate a sacrosanct principle of legislative independence. It says granting a court order in this case would violate parliamentary privilege — something the Supreme Court of Canada has clearly said courts cannot do. "It is impossible to identify an activity more obviously legislative in nature than the introduction of budgetary legislation in the Legislative Assembly by a minister of finance," Silver's response to the Yukon court reads. "This application therefore asks the Supreme Court of Yukon to undertake a startling reversal of several hundred years of constitutional precedent on the relationship between courts and the legislature in a parliamentary system based on the Westminster model." None of the claims in the petition have been tested in court. There's no date set yet for a hearing.
