WATSON LAKE – A proposal by Whitehorse city council for new independence outside the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) was shot down in flames over the weekend.

At the association's annual conference in Watson Lake, the city put forward a resolution Sunday to create a City of Whitehorse Charter. It would have set the city somewhat apart from the association while still being an AYC member.

"Whereas the creation of a Charter for the City of Whitehorse would allow Whitehorse to address its unique issues separately while allowing the Association of Yukon Communities to focus more on issues common to the other Yukon communities; and....” reads the resolution in part.

The resolution goes on to say Whitehorse would remain a supportive member of the association.

Allowing the city to move ahead independently in discussions with the Yukon government on several issues would plow the road for the rural communities, and enable them to take advantage of the fruits from the city's labour, says the resolution.

But the annual conference hadn't even begun Friday morning when there was hallway chatter among municipal leaders regarding the proposal.

That the City of Whitehorse should decide what unique issues to pursue with the Yukon government on behalf of the communities, was raising eyebrows, informally.

There wasn't anything informal when the resolution hit the floor Sunday morning at the association's annual business meeting.

The five councillors representing Whitehorse at the meeting were quickly reminded how the AYC was founded on the spirit of unity, using the principle of strength in numbers.

It was suggested the city was being presumptuous with its suggestion that issues it sought to address were unique.

With a blitz of opposition coming from around the table, Whitehorse Coun. John Streicker moved to withdraw the resolution, with the agreement of Coun. Betty Irwin.

"I would rather withdraw the resolution than have it defeated,” he told his fellow municipal leaders.

Streicker insisted there was no ill intent or us-first mentality built into the resolution.

City council felt while it wanted to pursue matters of particular interest to Whitehorse, it didn't want to saddle the other communities with the result, he said.

Streicker mentioned, for instance, that concerns have been raised following last October's municipal election regarding the level of spending which occurred on individual campaigns.

Spending, he said, did not appear to be an issue in individual communities, so if city council did go down that avenue, it didn't want to drag the rest of the communities with it.

Irwin, who moved the resolution, told her colleagues that since she was first elected in 2009, she wanted to pursue ways for the city to raise money through its own initiatives outside of property taxes, such as a hotel room tax.

Irwin said a couple of jurisdictions in Canada already return a portion of provincial tax revenue directly to municipalities.

"All we are asking is that all the municipalities in the Yukon have the ability to make those decisions and pursue those avenues on their own,” she said. "This is what this resolution is all about.”

Carmacks Mayor Elaine Wyatt, who serves as the AYC's president, emphasized her opposition to the resolution, as did several other mayors and community representatives.

"You readily assume Whitehorse issues are not the community issues but I am telling you, you have troubles, we have troubles,” she said. "You want to generate revenue, we want to generate revenue.”

Wyatt said in the past, the communities have stood by Whitehorse as a united association. It is through the association as a united front that matters of municipal affairs should be handled, she said, not in isolation of each community.

Municipalities' ability to raise their own revenue has been on the table for years, said Mike Crawshay of the Village of Haines Junction.

He harkened back several years ago, when the village wanted to get into the business of hot water heat distribution from an underground source.

Watson Lake Mayor Richard Durocher reminded the community leaders his town is already a quasi-public utility raising money with the distribution of waste heat from Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd.'s diesel generating plant.

And the town, he said, is pursuing further avenues of generating even more of its own revenue.

Municipalities just can't keep going to the ratepayers, he said.

Haines Junction Mayor George Nassiopoulos said it was a bit presumptuous and arrogant for Whitehorse to think only the good ideas come from the capital and the communities can embrace them if they'd like.

Allowing Whitehorse to grab the government's ear all by itself on issues of common concern to all communities is not unity, he said.

Unity, Nassiopoulos said, is important.

The Haines Junction mayor said he recognizes the city's desire for a degree of independence and autonomy outside the AYC was well-intentioned, and not meant to be divisive of the association.

But a new city council two years from now may not view the intent the same way as the current city council, he said.

Dawson City Mayor Wayne Potoroka said many years ago, there was the notion of Whitehorse and then the rest of the Yukon, known in short for TROY – the rest of the Yukon.

Allow the resolution, Potoroka told the elected representatives, "and we will have TROY, and we will have a Whitehorse.

"I really think we are stronger together,” he said.

Potoroka said the matters of concern being raised by the city can all be dealt with through the ongoing review of the Municipal Act, which is scheduled to result in new legislation in the fall of 2014.

Christine Smith, director of the government's community affairs branch, was on hand for the entire weekend, as well as Sunday morning's business meeting.

Asked if matters raised during the discussion around city's resolution – such as revenue generation – were being discussed in the Municipal Act review, Smith indicated they were, every single one of them.

Coun. Irwin said she was willing to withdraw the resolution, but not before telling her colleagues of her view of the resolution, and the importance of its intent.

"I am really pleased with the discussion,” she said. "Part of the reason for bringing this resolution forward was to open up the discussion and to see what other communities were thinking.”

When the British North American Act was proclaimed in 1876, municipal and community governments were described as children of the province, Irwin told her colleagues.

Today, she said, municipalities supply services they did not provide 100 or even 50 years ago.

Irwin said municipalities are becoming a level of government onto themselves and they need independence as municipal governments.

"I am willing to withdraw this resolution, but I guarantee you, we will rework it and bring it back next year.”