The territory will play host to a former Liberal-turned-TD Bank Group executive this week at Yukon College.

Hosted by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, a lecture will feature one-time New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna in discussion on Thursday.

That will happen after he rubs elbows with members of the Yukon Liberal Party on Wednesday evening at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.

McKenna told the Star this morning that his visit will be a mix of business and pleasure.

“It gives me a chance to get back to a territory that I haven’t been in for a long time,” he said.

He adding learning from the territory’s growth can be valuable, both as a former politician but also as a banking executive.

“I explain to a lot of business people where growth is happening,” he said, noting the Yukon’s low unemployment rate is “the envy of the country, in fact the envy of the world.”

Citing the 2.3 per cent unemployment rate released by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics as of last year, he added that the figures are “unheard of numbers around North America.”

Serving as premier for a decade until 1997, McKenna is perhaps best known for his historic 1987 win that saw his party sweep all 58 seats in New Brunswick’s legislative assembly.

Now the deputy chair of the TD Bank Group, he said he will also visit branch executives and mining companies the bank is doing business with.

McKenna continued he is looking forward to renewing the relationship with Premier Sandy Silver, a fellow Liberal, who he admired and commended for promoting economic development in the Yukon.

During his reign, McKenna called on New Brunswick in particular to open up to immigrants, and said he hopes the territory continues its track record of attracting newcomers.

“Talking about some of the efforts being made to bring immigrants to Atlantic Canada to see if they have any application to the Yukon” will also be of interest, he said.

In terms of advice for the current government, McKenna continued that addressing the “economic anxieties” of Yukoners could be significant point for the Liberals going forward.

But he noted the federal government’s role on a grander scale as a “synchronized economic recovery” takes place in the global economy.

“The clouds on the horizon all tend to be political and not economic,” he said.

He cited the Brexit, new European governments, Iran and United States relations and the NAFTA negotiations as being “very material for our national economy.”

Another lesson McKenna hopes to take back, he said, is the strength of negotiations with First Nations.

Pointing to the Eagle mine currently under construction and two more projects (Coffee and Kudz ze Kayah) going through the approval process at the territory’s assessment board, he continued “that doesn’t really work well in other communities.”

The territory seems “to have achieved a large degree of reconciliation and consensus and collaboration with Indigenous communities and there are lessons to be learned in that as well,” he noted.

Hinting at the Kinder Morgan pipeline and other projects across the country intended to spur the economy, McKenna said he hopes the territory will be able to reap the economic rewards of future projects while still respecting environmental concerns of Indigenous groups in particular.

Still, he assured that this will be as much of a trip for his benefit.

“I’m not going to be taking the attitude that I’m here from elsewhere to tell you how to do things,” McKenna laughed, adding, “I’m here as much to learn as anything.”