After weeks of slowly rolling out a piece of its platform at a time, the Yukon NDP announced its complete plan this morning.

The 30-page platform outline speaks widely to jobs, health care, the environment and governance.

“That’s all any of us wants,” NDP Leader Liz Hanson said as she stood in the Yukon Arts Centre, surrounded by 11 of the party’s 19 Nov. 7 election candidates.

“Good jobs, good schools, opportunities for the next generation.

“A health care system that is there when we need it, and a healthy environment for our kids and grandchildren to grow up in.”

As she spoke, Hanson slammed the Yukon Party for what she called “desperate, multimillion-dollar promises,” and said the Liberals have been vague with their plans this election.

“Months ago, when we began the process of writing this platform, two things were really important to us. First, we wanted to put forward a solid plan, with new, bold ideas,” Hanson said.

“Second, everything we did was done with an eye to results. I want our plan to always have an eye on Yukoners’ lives. Ideas that have a real impact on people’s real lives.”

She said that after 14 years under the same party, the territory is at a turning point. She said she thinks Yukoners are ready for change.

“But more than just a different government, they want a better government,” she said.

“A government that knows that reconciliation is more than vague promises. It requires hard work. There are no short cuts.”

Some of the platform points have been suggested by the NDP for years, including improved relations with First Nations, and a permanent ban on fracking.

Other points are newer. Among these are a minimum wage of $15, making the first year of education at Yukon College tuition-free for Yukoners, and offering a tax credit to Yukoners who study medicine and return to the territory to work as doctors.

Hanson acknowledged that many of the items on the party platform would cost money, but she said the NDP has been modest about financial commitments.

“A good government can re-prioritize,” she said, noting she is confident the NDP can deliver on the promises made in the platform.

Hanson said the coming years will be full of hard work and hard decisions, not the least of which is the question of reconciliation.

“When I use the language about reconciliation, about it not being you know, simple this or that, or a tweak of a program, but a process, I guess that’s that whole vision of us re-engaging and creating the new Yukon, that I think Elijah Smith and the elders put out in 1973 when they talked about Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow.

“If we can achieve that sense of reconciliation in the next five years, or the beginning of it, that will be an amazing achievement,” she said.

Additional platform points are highlighted below. Full details can be found on the NDP’s website.

Jobs

Create a green energy investment fund with a Yukon government contribution of $50 million over five years, in order to transfer to a diversified renewable energy economy and lower carbon footprint.

Design and construct green buildings.

Support public ownership of the Yukon’s electrical power supply system, in co-operation with Yukon First Nations, and consistent with Final Agreements.

Freeze quartz and placer mining royalty rates for five years.

A goal of having Yukoners make up at least 75 per cent of the mining workforce.

Expand the Yukon Small Business Tax Credit.

Build a second fibre-optic line to the territory.

A 10-year strategy to increase and enhance tourism.

Work with the federal and First Nations governments to retain and recognize the Yukon’s aboriginal languages.

Health

Expand home care to include evenings and weekends.

Ensure each community has access to at least two community nurses.

Review and update social assistance rates.

Increase the tax rate on higher-income earners and lower it on low-income Yukoners including pensioners.

Work to provide and develop land and opportunity for tiny home-building.

Work with First Nations to address the issue of overrepresentation of First Nations children in care.

Look into creating seniors’ assisted living spaces across the territory.

Institute post-traumatic stress disorder legislation for those covered by Yukon workers’ compensation.

Help Yukoners with disabilities to participate thoroughly in public and community life.

Develop a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan for the territory.

Participate in the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Environment

Work with the federal government to establish a carbon-pricing mechanism, and with Yukoners to come up with a model that serves the interests of the territory.

Protect the Peel Watershed by supporting the final recommended plan as decided on by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Work with Yukon First Nations to protect areas identified in Final Agreements.

Address the issue of use of off-road vehicles by providing different levels of protection to areas based on landscape fragility.

Enact species-at-risk legislation.

Amend the Waters Act to ban the export of water.

Enhance air quality monitoring.

Come up with a plan to remediate contaminated sites throughout the territory.

Government

Make National Aboriginal Day a statutory holiday.

Work with the federal and First Nations governments to implement United Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People to assist with reconciliation.

Make capital project decisions based on demonstrated public need.

Ban corporate, union and Outside contributions to political parties in the territory.

Review on-call and auxiliary government workers who are filling full-time positions.