The previous Yukon Party government paid $750,000 to buy back its own land — leased by the Mountain View Golf Club — claiming it wanted the riverside property for possible lot development in the Whistle Bend subdivision and had the support of the city.

The deal allowed the non-profit golf club to eliminate its debt.

It went through quietly in 2011 despite city officials’ express disinterest in expanding Whistle Bend to include those lands and a feasibility study that noted much of the 51-hectare parcel was unsuitable for development.

“Why did the Yukon government spend $750,000 of Yukoners’ money to buy back its own land?” NDP Leader Liz Hanson asked in the legislature Wednesday.

“Correspondence shows that the premise of the transaction was to help in paying off the golf course’s debt load.”

An agreement signed by the government and Mountain View on Feb. 8, 2011, specifies that $500,000 of the buyback money must be used “to pay out and discharge” the club’s debt.

“Nobody questions the need for the government to support recreational organizations,” Hanson said in question period. “What is not OK is to do it behind closed doors and under false pretenses.

“It reaffirms that notion that this government prefers to deal on a crony basis as opposed to, let’s keep it in the open,” she added in an interview Wednesday.

Community Services Minister Brad Cathers responded in the house: “My understanding is that the land in question was required to install a perimeter trail and a storm water management system for the Whistle Bend subdivision.

“That is about the extent of my knowledge on this subject because this is a matter than I have not dealt with directly,” he said.

The government-Mountain View agreement claims that the territory was “interested in acquiring the land ... to support potential future development in the area” due to a “shortage of land within the Whistle Bend area.”

But government correspondence suggests future housing lots were not the main goal after all, according to the NDP.

Ray Hayes — a now-retired senior civil servant — wrote to Angus Robertson and Lyle Henderson — then the deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) and the assistant deputy minister of sustainable resources at EMR, respectively — that then-Community Services minister Archie Lang was looking to “help” Mountain View.

“I should add that I just had a call from Minister Lang’s office inquiring about ... the issue of how we could help the Golf Course,” Hayes wrote.

“The premise here is to deal with the MVGC (Mountain View Golf Club) debt load which was the basis for the initial approach by MVGC to YG,” confirmed John Cole, then the planning and development manager at EMR, in a July 2010 letter to Henderson.

That “premise” is not the one that would be presented to the public, however.

An EMR “alert” from Oct. 8, 2013 — prompted by a citizen’s questions and approved by the deputy minister — states that “suggested responses” to “public or media inquiry” should state that “this land was a prime location for the future expansion of the Whistle Bend residential project” and the buyback had “support from the City of Whitehorse.”

Both those assertions go against the grain of the above correspondence as well as a July 2010 email from a high-ranking Community Services administrator.

Dan Boyd, then an assistant deputy minister, wrote to Henderson that another senior civil servant “doesn’t think the City will be interested in the 51 ha. that’s been set aside for future expansion ... the land is probably not good for residential development.

“I told him to keep it confidential.”

Indeed, a city official stated moves to bail out the golf course and change the Whistle Bend subdivision plan seemed to “accommodate the Golf Course at the expense of the development.

“I have heard various reasons but one is clear in that it is coming from the top down,” according to a June 2010 email from a municipal representative to then- Community Services deputy minister Jeff O’Farrell.

“The whole thing does not make a lot of sense to me. What we have said is if changes are requested then YG should request them through City Council.”

At least one top territorial administrator — Robertson, the EMR deputy minister — appeared to agree with the city.

“Ultimately we will need to develop some options for Min. Lang to consider re assistance for the golf course. Some of the options kicked around some time back make me a bit apprehensive to be sure, but need to think everything through,” he wrote to Henderson and O’Farrell.

“Everyone agrees to complete confidentiality while negotiating,” Henderson — EMR’s assistant deputy minister — wrote on Dec. 29, 2010, shortly before the deal went through.

Hanson saw cronyism, transparency and “political interference” as the key issues at play.

“It simply appears that the minister of the day (Archie Lang) had some friends who were in a pinch and the minister said, as you can see from the documentation, ‘Fix it,’” she told the Star.

“Public servants were stretched to try to do it within the bounds of public policy and really were pushing back at various stages.

“This notion of clandestine arrangements is just too prevalent,” Hanson added.

A feasibility study stated less than 60 per cent of the 51-hectare parcel was suitable for development.

Even within the available 30-hectare area, “limitations” like “site servicing” via well and septic systems, among other obstacles, were noted.

The study, completed in December 2010 by Inukshuk Planning and Development, stated upwards of 200 lots could potentially be established in the area north of downtown between Whistle Bend and the Yukon River.

“Whether this is technically feasible or affordable requires a detailed engineering evaluation,” the report states.

The government responded to accusations around the lease buyback with a brief statement this morning.

“This issue dates back to a previous government, with different ministers in charge, and we are still working with department officials to gather the details of what transpired and why,” said cabinet spokeswoman Elaine Schiman.

The government will reply more thoroughly later today, Schiman added.

The October 2013 EMR alert quoted as well as a Community Services alert suggest the current government — which took office in October 2011 — was tuned into the deal.

The Star’s calls to Lang and Thomas Amson, the Mountain View president at the time, were not returned by press time this afternoon.