Whitehorse Daily Star

More discontent surfaces about act consultation

City councillor Samson Hartland and Great River Air owner Craig Unterschute

By Taylor Blewett on October 18, 2017

City councillor Samson Hartland and Great River Air owner Craig Unterschute are the latest voices to express discontent with the Yukon Liberal government’s consultation process on its Public Airports Act.

“The only thing Liberal about this government is their interpretation of the word consultation,” Unterschute said in an interview with the Star this morning.

Here, he gets to the crux of the debate surrounding this piece of tabled legislation: what exactly constitutes government consultation?

The City of Whitehorse, Great River Air, Air North, Alkan Air, the Northern Air Transport Association (NATA) and the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) all spoke with a government representative in some capacity about a new act before it was introduced in the legislature Oct. 4.

“We feel we did our due diligence,” Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn told the Star in an email last week.

However, a variety of concerns about these meetings are being aired publicly, in the Yukon legislature and in the media.

Didn’t include stakeholders

According to participants, many were brief, didn’t involve draft Yukon legislation, and didn’t include major stakeholders with the various organizations.

NATA, for example, issued a press release last week asking the government to remove the association’s name from a press release listing stakeholders consulted on the Public Airports Act.

The association received a phone call from the assistant deputy minister of transportation, Allan Nixon, on Aug. 2.

However, “this short conversation in no way can be construed as ‘consultation,’” reads the press release, citing its general nature due to the absence of a draft Yukon Public Airports Act to reference.

All references to consultation with industry players were removed from the press release on Tuesday.

Unterschute said Great River Air had a similar experience to NATA’s.

His brief conversation with Nixon in August barely touched on the Public Airports Act, he said, and he was provided a copy of the Northwest Territories airport legislation.

The meeting was cut short, as it was the day a fuel tanker overturned on the Alaska Highway in southeast Yukon, with Unterschute under the impression that further consultation on the Yukon act would occur, he said.

However, he didn’t speak with Nixon directly again.

During Monday evening’s council meeting, Hartland said he finds it “disconcerting” that the City of Whitehorse is said to have been consulted when city council members were not involved in any such discussion.

City staff and Yukon government officials did meet, according to both Hartland and Mostyn.

“I was told (city officials) are very happy that this legislation has come forward. They had input into this process, they were essential to this process, we couldn’t have brought it forward without talking to the city about zoning and bylaws,” Mostyn said Tuesday.

Hartland argued that something “this significant” should have been brought to a city council level.

Legislative debate on the Public Airports Act took place Monday.

The Yukon Party brought forward a motion to send the legislation back to the consultation stage.

The party also urged the establishment of a committee to conduct further consultations with stakeholders. Those would include all Yukon First Nations, municipalities, aviation groups and companies, other Yukon organizations and the general public.

“So far, the Liberals have indicated they will not support the motion,” according to a Yukon Party press release after the legislature adjourned Monday.

Mostyn indicated Tuesday that the government does plan to further consult with industry stakeholders and the public on the act.

However, it will do so in drafting the regulations that will provide “the meat of this legislation,” which would occur after the act is passed in the house.

– With files from Stephanie Waddell

Comments (7)

Up 0 Down 0

Moose on Oct 24, 2017 at 9:40 pm

This is such a joke. The Liberals are putting forward the basic act which they said is 9 or 10 pages with no regulations put in place. Now for some reason everyone, from every organization is demanding to be consulted and are pretending to be outraged. Consulting with the aviation industry makes sense, but certainly not with everyone like the chambers of commerce, municipalities, etc. Should we start demanding that government consult with everyone on everything? What a tempest in a tea pot.

Up 3 Down 3

Herb Grolewegen on Oct 23, 2017 at 9:55 pm

June, Copper-Ridge is waiting.

Up 13 Down 3

A voice of Reason on Oct 23, 2017 at 2:54 pm

I think it is safe to say, " this industry was not a big supporter of the Liberal government in the last election and that their motivation regarding this issue might be more politically motivated then we realize".
With that said, the Liberals should reset, do a more thorough consultation and move on to pass the Act.

Up 11 Down 6

jack on Oct 23, 2017 at 12:09 pm

Blatantly copying the legislation from other jurisdictions is not considered 'doing your job'. You're paid to make Yukon legislation not to copy it from wherever.

I really wonder what else they're copying and claiming as their own and how is this even legal? NWT paid for and owns that text.

Up 10 Down 14

YukonMax on Oct 21, 2017 at 8:26 am

The pharmacist has decimated the term "consultation". We no longer believe in it. Sorry.

Up 15 Down 7

June Jackson on Oct 19, 2017 at 12:13 pm

Well.. its a Liberal government.. what did anyone think was going to happen?

Up 26 Down 2

ProScience Greenie on Oct 18, 2017 at 2:52 pm

Just admit you messed up and hit the reset button on this Sandy and crew. Start listening to us like you promised and remember if it ain't broke don't fix it.

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