MP Brendan Hanley is calling 2022 a year of challenges – rising inflation, health care strains and housing shortages, to name a few – but says he and his government rose to the occasion on behalf of Yukoners and all Canadians.

Now, he’s looking ahead to 2023.

Hanley spoke with the Star Thursday to reflect on his first full year as the Yukon’s sole representative in the House of Commons, and what issues he and the Liberals will focus on in the year ahead. 

“I think it was a year where I was able to bring a strong voice from the Yukon to Ottawa,” Hanley said.

“Of course, it was a really challenging year. I think what we showed is that our government was able to respond to…multiple crises at once and make a tangible difference in the lives of Canadians,” he added.

Affordability was top of mind in 2022

As the territory moved out of the pandemic, easing restrictions in the spring and again in the fall, inflation skyrocketed. That forced the government to respond to new struggles faced by Canadians trying to make ends meet.

Hanley noted his government provided subsidies on rent and childcare and started work on the Canada Dental Benefit.

It also forgave loans for students and apprenticeships and temporarily increased GST tax credits for low-income Canadians. Hanley said his government isn’t done trying to make life more affordable for Canadians.

“Most people are predicting that things are still going to be probably pretty rough through at least the first half or some of the majority of 2023,” he said.

A growing crisis in health care

Health care, Hanley said, will also remain an urgent focus for the federal government.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added stress to already overburdened health care systems in the Yukon and the rest of Canada, and primary care became increasingly difficult to access for many Canadians in 2022.

More than 3,000 Yukoners are without a family doctor. As well, a promised walk-in clinic for the territory never materialized last year, meaning thousands are still burdening emergency departments for non-urgent care.

Hanley, a member of the federal standing health committee, said his government tried to work with the country’s premiers in November to address the growing national crisis in health care, but those talks broke down.

Premiers were asking for an increase in federal health transfers so provinces and territories could fill gaps where they saw fit, but the federal government disagreed.

Hanley said he believes Canadians want to see access to primary care, and that goes beyond “just handing over money for health care transfers.”

The Standing Committee on Health, he said, is also working through recommendations on how to address what Hanley called a “health care workforce crisis.”

Here in the Yukon, for instance, aside from the large family doctor waitlist, there is now a vacancy rate in community nursing of over 40 per cent. 

“We do need further action that includes federal leadership, but also the co-operation of the provinces and territories to relieve the workforce crisis,” he said.

“For those who don’t have a family doctor access to primary care, we need to get Canadians connected to primary care, and really restore trust and credibility into our health care system.”

Hanley said the federal government is working to make it easier for immigrant doctors with foreign credentials to practise in Canada.

He also said Canada needs to be better at allowing medical professionals to practice around the country, perhaps through a national licensing system that would make it easier to shuffle doctors and nurses to provinces and territories facing the biggest shortages.

“We have to recognize how burnt-out that profession is, how many have gone into retirement over the last couple of years and through the pandemic,” he said.

A potential federal election this year?

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the federal government last month for failing to act meaningfully to improve health care for Canadians.

Similarly to the arrangement here in the Yukon, the federal NDP and Liberals are in a Confidence and Supply Agreement, and Singh said a lack of action on health care could lead his party to withdraw. 

Hanley said his government is taking action, and progress requires constancy, not an election.

“(Canadians) want to see stability; they want to see progress,” he said.

“Health care reform, or setting up a mental health transfer, which is still unfinished business, or addressing housing, looking at affordability, stable international relations and setting up trade relationships: all of this requires time and it requires stability.”

Hanley took stance on gun control

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of 2022 for Hanley was the stance he took on gun control.

Hanley made waves nationally in December when he said he couldn’t support amendments to his party’s bill on gun control (Bill C-21), which could ban firearms used by hunters in the Yukon.

A gun ban was introduced by the Liberals in 2020 after Nova Scotia experienced the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history.

The ban covered about 1,500 firearms to address gun violence in Canada.

Late last year, the government introduced amendments that expanded the ban to include long guns that some Yukoners and other Canadians use to hunt. A ban could affect the livelihood, or simply a way of life, for hunters across the country.

Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre then used Hanley’s comments in December to criticize the Liberals in the House.

Hanley said he hasn’t changed his opinion, but he believes his position could change the proposed amendments.

“Since then, we have seen some progress,” he said.

Hanley said he believes his opposition to the amendments has helped spur further study from the Public Safety Committee in its consideration of what guns should be banned for public safety.

He also said more witnesses will have the chance to speak about the guns they use to hunt and work, including some Yukoners.

Hanley’s focus this year

Looking toward 2023, Hanley said the “single most important crisis” facing us is a changing climate. It’s perhaps doubly urgent for the Yukon, as scientific reports suggest Canada’s North is warming much faster than the rest of the country.

“Going ahead, a lot of focus is on green energy transition,” he said.

Hanley praised the Yukon government’s emissions targets for the decade, outlined in Our Clean Future, the territory’s strategy for the changing climate.

He said his government is looking to fund “emergency preparedness” for a warmer future, setting aside money to improve infrastructure as permafrost melts and rebuild after weather events that are becoming more powerful and frequent.

“We’ve had all kinds of effects, including the landslides in Whitehorse – and also in the Dawson area, with floods and roads washing out,” he said.

“So we need to proceed with prevention. We also, of course, need to have ongoing commitments to funding for the repair side of climate damage.”

Hanley said this year, along with a focus on health care improvements and affordability aid, he will push on behalf of the territory for federal support of green energy transitions in Yukon.

He added that funding for housing initiatives, relief for the opioid crisis and mental health services will also be high on his list for 2023.

Hanley on working with a new premier this year

Hanley said he looks forward to working with Premier Sandy Silver’s replacement in the coming year, saying he’s on good working terms with Ranj Pillai, the only candidate for the Liberal leadership.

“If he continues to be the single candidate,” Hanley said of Pillai, “I think I have a very good relationship with him, and I really look forward to working with him.”