For Opposition Leader Currie Dixon, the legislature’s spring sitting was more of the same ol’, same ol’.

“I think we started the sitting saying that we were hoping to see a new vision, new ideas, new direction from this new premier (Ranj Pillai),” Dixon told reporters Thursday after question period in the legislature.

“Unfortunately, we don’t think we saw that. What we saw was very much more of the same. We saw the same direction taken by this government.

“Where we did see anything new that came out of this government was policy items that were driven by the NDP.

“Those were all items that were largely driven by the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA). And so we think that this government is one that is is getting long in the tooth, is running out of ideas, running out of steam.”

As for his party’s performance, Dixon said, “I thought we had a good sitting in terms of raising issues on behalf of Yukoners.

“We did a good job of scrutinizing the government’s actions and raising questions on behalf of Yukoners from a variety of different subject areas, and I was really happy with our team for that.”

Dixon said a few main themes dominated what his party talked about.

“One was just the new and innovative ways that the government is finding to throw red tape on to private business. We knew that there were issues in the CASA that were going to affect the business sector and the private sector part of our economy.

“But we were surprised to find so many more examples of the government just getting in the way of business,” Dixon said.

“We look at the red tape and the system on doctors. When you look at the policy changes in the Department of EMR (Energy, Mines and Resources) that have impacted the housing market, affecting contractors.

“We were surprised by the ways that this government is becoming an obstacle to business rather than a help to business.”

Dixon also said the government is struggling to get lots out on the market.

“The Liberal party promised 1,000 new lots to be released within this mandate. We’re now about at the halfway part of the mandate, and not only are they not meeting that target, they can’t even tell us how many lots they’ve released,” he said.

“We’ve asked the minister of Community Services (Richard Mostyn), probably half a dozen times, how many lots they’ve released since the 2021 election. He’s never been able to answer.

“We think it’s concerning because it means that they’re not going to be able to meet their promise, they’re not gonna be able to meet the goal that they set for themselves,” said the Yukon Party leader.

“And that’s disappointing because housing is one of the biggest issues that faces Yukoners today. And one of the main ways that government can support the housing market is by getting land out.”

Dixon also pointed to what he calls a lack of support for the health care system.

“We just heard over and over again from a variety of different primary care providers that the morale amongst primary care providers has never been lower.

“We’ve heard particularly from doctors that feel that this government has been just completely out of touch with the needs of our medical system,” Dixon said.

“We’ve heard from doctors that are owed money or have unpaid bills from the government. We’ve heard that the red tape that is bogging them down, making them spend way too much time filling out paperwork and not enough time seeing patients, and what that translates into is longer wait times and poor service for Yukon patients.”

The party has also heard that the Yukon Hospital Corp. isn’t being sufficiently funded, he added.

“And so we don’t think the government is taking our health care of Yukoners seriously enough – and the cracks in our system are starting to show.”

Dixon was asked why his party voted against the budget when it contains so many good things for Yukoners.

“A vote on the budget is an expression of confidence in the government, and for the reasons I laid out in the response to (Pillai’s) ministerial statement (Thursday), we don’t have confidence in this government,” he said.

“We don’t have confidence in this premier and quite frankly, we don’t think that Yukoners do either. So we’ll be voting against the budget, not because we oppose some of the measures in it necessarily or every single measure in it, but because we think the government’s going in the wrong direction.”

Dixon also said the minimum wage hikes are hurting businesses and keeping them from hiring more youth workers.

Dixon also said the new paid sick leave program is another example of the Yukon government not engaging in consultation before rolling out a policy.

“It’s a lack of consultation or lack of engagement with the business. Those who are most impacted by it.”

On the positive side, Dixon said, “it was a really positive development that my colleague Geraldine Van Bibber brought forward a motion, urging the Government of Yukon to better celebrate the 125th birthday of the Yukon Territory.”

Issues the Yukon Party will focus on going forward include the government’s energy strategy.

“I still remain extremely concerned about the state of our electricity system,” Dixon said.

“The government’s energy strategy, as we’ve described, is one that is absolutely failing. The government’s admitted that the current plan they have is not going to meet their projected forecast for demand of power.”

Dixon also cited the cost of renting a rising number of diesel generators as a continuing concern.

“We haven’t seen a proper accounting for the cost of all the diesel generators that have been rented by this government.

“There’s going to come a reckoning eventually, and those costs are going to have to be reflected in the future on our power bills. That’s something we’re gonna be watching very closely.”