A motion by the Yukon NDP calling on the government to bring in a moratorium on rent increases until next summer was shot down in the legislative assembly last Wednesday.

NDP Leader Kate White had provided a notice of motion that day in the legislature asking for the moratorium.

The motion was defeated by an unlikely combination of both the Liberals and the Yukon Party voting together. Only the NDP was in favour.

“The Liberals have abandoned Yukon tenants,” White said.

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic and some tenants are facing hundreds of dollars in monthly rent increases. The government had an opportunity to fix this problem and they chose to do nothing,” White added.

“I’ll keep fighting for tenants because no one should lose their home or face these kind of abusive increases, even more so in a pandemic.”

Before the vote, both Premier Sandy Silver and Currie Dixon, the leader of the Yukon Party, said they hadn’t made their minds up on the issue and wouldn’t decide how to provide direction to their members until after the debate.

When she introduced the motion, White said she had been contacted by a tenant somewhere in the Yukon who had been informed their rent would be rising by 40 per cent in three months’ time.

White said that was appalling in the middle of a pandemic.

“That’s significant. It could essentially be the first step toward an eviction,” she said.

“You wonder if you pay the increase or you look for another place to live. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and the government has repeated often times is that it’s unprecedented. We agree.”

“Unfortunately,” White added, “the Landlord and Tenant Act has a lot of gaps and holes. One of those is that we have no cap on those increases. Our rules state that once every 12 months, the landlord can increase the rent, but it doesn’t limit that increase.

“So this landlord is well within their rights according to the law.”

Even though the move may be legal, White said, it “doesn’t make it right.

“This is a way for government to maybe protect people who may be facing this,” she added.

Under the state of emergency, White said the government, in particular Community Services Minister John Streicker, could use emergency powers to implement the moratorium.

“There’s never going to be just one person this affects,” she said. “Even if it’s different landlords scattered across the territory. This is an opportunity for the minister to say to tenants, ‘we want you to be safe in your home until July of 2021.’”

Streicker said the government already has some programs in place, including supplements for rent.

“But I think whenever you have a situation like an emergency, it is important to look back and review the programs and try to understand if they’re still serving Yukoners in the best way possible,” he said.

“I take suggestions from wherever they come. I’ve already talked to the deputy minister, and said, ‘let’s take a look at what other jurisdictions are doing. Let’s see if this is the best place to put more support for Yukoners.’”

Streicker said he’s also interested in talking to the community and getting a feel for what the public thinks about the issue.

“Whether it’s a priority, I’m not sure yet, but I’m happy to look at it.”

Dixon said the Yukon Party “traditionally” isn’t in favour of rent controls. That type of regulation puts landlords in a potentially-difficult situation, he suggested, and can have negative effects of the rental market as a whole.