The Yukon government released a "what we heard” document Thursday summarizing the views expressed during the final round of public consultation in the Peel watershed land use planning process.

It's made clear that the report is not a statistical analysis, and does not attempt to state what the majority view is.

The input provided was categorized in 16 themes.

They ranged from clear directives to either accept or reject the final recommended plan, to comments criticizing the government for an undemocratic process, to encouraging the government to show courageous leadership.

Comments also addressed concerns that future land use planning processes have been undermined.

Support and opposition were expressed for the land use designations used in the government's concepts as well as the concepts themselves.

The document can be found at www.peelconsultation.ca.

Environment Minister Currie Dixon said he is generally pleased with the input received during the consultation.

"We asked Yukoners to provide thoughtful, constructive input, and a lot of Yukoners did just that,” he said.

Dixon highlighted the diversity of views expressed during the consultation, from support of high-level protection to support for areas left open to development.

"One of the challenges government faces regularly is balancing those competing interests.” said Dixon, who also has the Economic Development portfolio.

"What we're going to try to do is come up with a land use plan that balances protection of the environment and respects all sectors of the economy,” he said.

Addressing criticisms laid against the government that the process has been undemocratic, Dixon reiterated the government's stance that it has followed the process outlined in the Umbrella Final Agreement "to a T,” and will continue to do so.

The government does not plan to release a document outlining the majority view expressed during the consultation.

"This wasn't a referendum; there wasn't a yes or no question here, so it's difficult to say what the majority of Yukoners think,” said Dixon.

"We made it clear before we entered this that this wasn't going to be a popularity contest or an exercise in who can get the most names on a petition.

"It was about requesting thoughtful, constructive input from Yukoners.

"We were elected by Yukoners to represent Yukoners, and that's what we want to do, but, of course, we're going to make decisions that we feel are in the best interest of the territory,” he said.

Liz Hanson, the leader of the official Opposition, agreed the Peel land use plan shouldn't be determined by polling.

"Government needs to be making decisions based on sound, rational policy advice and including the recommendations, in this case, of a commission that they established along with the First Nations governments pursuant to a treaty,” she said, reiterating her support for the final recommended plan.

In an release today, the NDP said the "what we heard” document clearly shows the consensus that the final recommended plan should be implemented.

"How many times will the government need to hear it? First Nations, local communities, elders and youth, non-profit groups and political parties, have told the government that the Final Recommended Plan is fair and balanced,” said Hanson.

"The Yukon Party government's unbalanced approach of exploiting natural resources at all cost has clearly been rejected. Yukoners have not been fooled by the governments' attempts to demonize those who spoke up in favour of the Final Recommended Plan,” the NDP release continues.

Hanson shared concerns expressed during the consultation that the government's handling of the Peel process has undermined future planning.

"We need to get that done, otherwise we'll have failed what the vision of previous First Nations governments and territorial governments was to have a territory where we actually knew and had agreement on how development proceeds in this territory, because that's ultimately what this was supposed to do, to provide for sustainable development,” she said.

Dixon said the next step is to proceed with consultation with the four affected First Nations.