Whitehorse Centre's Dec. 13 byelection candidates won few new hearts and minds at last evening's forum, attended largely by camps of Liberal, NDP and Yukon Party supporters who got to see how their man or woman stacked up against the competition.

After New Democrat Liz Hanson, Liberal Kirk Cameron and the Yukon Party's Mike Nixon fielded four prepared questions, voters got their chance to pepper candidates in a town hall-style format.

The forum, organized by the Whitehorse Elementary School Council and the local residents' association, began with questions on teacher allocations and education funding in general.

According to Whitehorse Elementary's enrolment and the Education department's new teacher allocation formula, the downtown school is short six teaching positions, the school council submitted in its first question.

"Right now, it may not be a perfect formula,” Nixon said of the new allocation method lauded by both educators and bureaucrats back in April. "But it's a good start, and the formula will be reviewed.”

Hanson and Cameron sided with Whitehorse Elementary School, and said the situation should be remedied as soon as possible.

On Education funding, both Cameron and Hanson suggested a review is necessary, while Nixon pointed to an increase in teaching staff territory-wide in spite of dropping enrolment.

When discussion turned to homelessness in the downtown area, distinctions between the three candidates crystalized.

Hanson declared that housing is a right and, "a shelter is not housing .... It is not a solution to homelessness.”

Hanson went on to criticize Cameron's plan to turn 207 Alexander St. – current seniors' housing – into a permanent 24-hour shelter when residents relocate to new seniors' digs on the waterfront next spring.

For his part, Nixon downplayed the homelessness issue and disputed that the problem was becoming more dire.

"If there ever was a silver bullet to solve (the problem), we would've solved it by now,” said Nixon.

But the Liberal candidate defended his idea, and took a shot at the current Yukon Party government.

"The problem is here and we see it here everyday,” said Cameron. "And we can't wait another eight years and more studies to go about the business of addressing it.”

Contrary to the Liberal and NDP candidates' recollections of canvassing voters, Nixon said some in Whitehorse Centre are growing weary of the downtown being portrayed in a negative light.

"What I'm hearing at the door is people are getting tired of their neighbourhood being talked about as a slum or a ghetto when nothing could be further from the truth,” said Nixon.

That statement provoked Cameron, the only byelection candidate of the trio who resides in the downtown area.

"That does not in any way suggest that we cannot be helping the homeless,” he retorted.

In terms of poise and straightforward answers, Cameron turned in a decent performance – arguably the best of the three candidates – however, it was coloured by a pair of loaded queries from Liberal supporters.

Yukon Liberal Association president Cherish Clarke tossed up a softball question on candidates' experience working within various levels of government (Cameron's résumé is impressive on this front), but it was Cameron's girlfriend and journalist Roxanne Livingstone who turned the proceedings personal.

Livingstone recounted her coverage of Indian Affairs' policy in 2003 that denied aboriginal people shelter in hotels when the Yukon government allowed non-native people that very social assistance privilege.

"(A man) died in 2003 under your watch (as regional director for Indian Affairs),” charged Livingstone. "If he had been in a hotel, he might have survived.”

Hanson responded that she was unaware of Livingstone's purported interview request, but that as regional director she was aware of serious issues within "the byzantine” federal department.

"I can't say anything more than that other than I'm saddened that an individual died,” Hanson added.

Cameron, who appeared uncomfortable on Whitehorse Elementary's gymnasium stage when Livingstone launched into her question, today admitted the optics were less than desirable.

"But she needed to ask that question, and that was not something that was anything but her,” Cameron explained. "It's an issue she feels very strongly about and that's where it was coming from.”

This morning, Hanson called it "the least positive aspect of the campaign so far.”

"I was floored by that, but it's part of the realities, I suppose, when you put yourself up in that position,” said Hanson.

"I've seen (Livingstone) in many, many places ... so I would've thought she would've raised it on one of those occasions. Obviously, it affected her, some people hold onto things, and clearly she did.”

Moving from the forum's charged moments back to the pedestrian, the issue of Black Street reared its head.

Some residents on the old town street are against upgrades proposed by the City of Whitehorse and the method by which the municipality has sought consent to do the work, which would cost homeowners upwards of $11,000.

Nixon, who has used the dispute to drum up support for his byelection bid, said that if elected, he "would go to work right away” as a member of the ruling Yukon Party government.

Cameron said that the upgrades were not yet a done deal and that the territory's Muncipal Act, which guides municipalities' decision-making processes on such matters, "is overdue for a complete review.”

Evoking the protracted court battle between the City of Whitehorse and local resident Marriane Darragh, Hanson said the current government is so far unwilling to tweak the Muncipal Act, in spite of several conflicts.

Darragh had originally won her case for a referendum on the protection of McLean Lake's shoreline, in part by collecting 2,500 signatures on a petition, but the city appealed, and in August 2009, the B.C./Yukon Supreme Court reversed the decision.

"This election it's Black Street, last spring it was Slinky Mine (within Dawson City limits) and then there's staking in Spruce Hill,” Hanson said.

"And I've asked for the minister of Community Services to open up the Municipal Act for discussion ... because it's no longer satisfying that people's voices be heard on municipal issues in court.”

See candidate's letter.