PREMIER DENIES DEMOCRACY ONCE AGAIN
The premier denied members of the Legislative Assembly their democratic rights to express their views on Bill No. 111, An Act to Amend the Elections Act, says Steve Cardiff, the leader of the New Democratic Party caucus.
“On Wednesday afternoon, he adjourned debate on my private members’ bill, which would have changed the Elections Act to reduce the length of time a government has to call a byelection when a vacancy occurs,” Cardiff says.
“He did this right after he spoke to the bill, and that’s unfortunate, because I think the people of Yukon would have been interested in hearing what other members of the House had to say on this important subject.”
In shutting down the debate, the premier accused the NDP of not following ‘due process’, and he invoked Section 317 of the Elections Act, which says the chief electoral officer may write a report suggesting changes to the act.
“The premier’s interpretation of ‘due process’ is very narrow,” Cardiff says. “Due process to me means bringing forward legislation that Yukoners have told us they want. Due process is listening to what people are saying, and then acting on what we hear.”
If passed, the bill would have shortened the length of time a government has to issue a writ for a byelection to 90 days from 180 days in the event of a vacancy of a sitting member of the legislature.
“The Yukon has had several byelections over the years,” Cardiff says. “In most cases, the turnaround time to fill a vacancy was between one and two months.”
The residents of Whitehorse Centre have been without representation for the entire fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly, which ends on Tuesday. The purpose of Bill No. 111 was to reduce the likelihood of that from happening in future.
“Six months is too long for citizens to go without representation, although that timeframe is pretty standard across Canada,” says Cardiff. “But what is accepted as standard practice is not necessarily good practice.”