Olivia Chow has had a busy 24 hours in Whitehorse.

The MP for the federal riding of Trinity-Spadina in Ontario and widow of former federal NDP leader Jack Layton spent her time rallying support for the Yukon NDP.

She also promoted a national transit strategy and criticized the current government for not doing enough to save money from the territory's resources.

Chow says it is poor planning on the part of the current government not to save more royalties money.

"The Yukon is blessed with so many riches, and those riches need to go back to the people of the Yukon,” she said today. "It shouldn't just all disappear to Bay Street in Toronto.

"It needs to come back to build more housing, to have better education for children, better roads and all those things that would really help the future generation.”

Yukon NDP leader Liz Hanson has said her party would push for increased resource royalties and public investment if it's elected a week from today.

Chow said she has seen what happens to communities that do not prepare for an eventual end to mining.

"You watch the communities and it's really sad. The young people don't live there anymore, it's only old folks that are left, and they are really struggling.

"It makes perfect sense that you take what is limited and keep a reserve fund so that it benefits the community. That's called good stewardship, it's good economic decision-making.”

The Yukon Chamber of Mines has said raising mining royalties would threaten the industry here.

Chow spent some time Monday meeting with Mayor Bev Buckway and John Pattimore, executive director of the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC).

The MP is promoting her call for a national transit strategy.

Last Friday, Chow introduced a private member's bill which calls on the federal government to meet with the provinces and territories as well as the transit authorities to co-ordinate a strategy and come up with a permanent, stable source of transit funding.

Chow, the NDP's transport and infrastructure critic, said the various governments need to determine a formula for what percentage of the bills each would pay, including the federalgovernment.

"Once you determine that funding formula, then that next 10 or 20 years, you rely on that formula,” she said.

Having a reliable source of funding is important for places looking to expand their transit capabilities, she added.

"It's about meeting a need so that there is fast, reliable accessible and affordable public transit,” she said.

A national strategy could lead to better transportation in smaller Yukon communities, Chow said.

Whitehorse is the only Yukon community with a transit system, which began in the 1970s.

"How do you go from Whitehorse to Dawson City or smaller parts of town?” she said. "There's difficulty with medical appointments, shopping....”

In the 2010 city budget, just over half of the $3.2 million it takes to run city transit came from taxpayer dollars while the remaining money was collected from advertisers, fares and Yukon government funding.

Chow said her bill is supported by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, of which Whitehorse is a member.

Buckway, a member of the federation's board and the AYC's president, said she would be interested in seeing what kind of formula was proposed before saying for sure if she would personally support any specific strategy.

"I'm always open to seeing what some of the options are,” she said.

"If there was something that would allow us to offer transit between communities, on the outset that sounds like a good thing. But we would have to look at it to see if there were no clawbacks in other places.”

This is not Chow's first visit to the Yukon. In 2008, she and Layton came to the city ahead of a 10-day journey through Kluane National Park.

At the time, with the possibility of a fall general election, the Yukon's NDP riding association did not have a candidate.

Things have changed since then, Chow said.

"Within the two or three years, the growth and the excitement from the young people is not something I experienced the last time I was here,” she said.

About 150 people of all ages showed up at Yukon College on Monday afternoon to hear Hanson, Chow and Kate White, the NDP candidate for Takhini-Kopper King, speak at a forum on community activism.

All three women spoke passionately about the importance of voting, advocating for what you think is important, and holding your MLA — no matter which party they represent — accountable.

"Community activism is really about each one of you speaking out. Each one of you connecting with your neighbours and your friends, saying, ‘This is the solution, this is what I believe in,'” Chow told the crowd.

"If you want a bus that goes to every part of the city, then that is what you push for. If you want post-secondary education where tuition has a freeze ...it just doesn't happen by itself. It means the community coming together and saying, ‘We will make that change.'”

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