Grimly diagnosing “a cost of living crisis” tormenting the territory, NDP Leader Kate White has prescribed a triple-pronged program to help Yukoners confront their mounting bills.

“It’s increasingly difficult to make ends meet,” White told a Wednesday news conference situated in a quiet Jim Smith Building foyer.

“ ... We have heard from young people saying it is harder and harder to get an education. We have heard from families making the difficult decision to cut out after-school activities. The stories are heartbreaking.”

The NDP has proposed what it calls three simple actions the territorial government could take to lighten inflation’s menacing burden:

Direct inflation relief – The NDP says the government should provide immediate financial relief for low- and middle-income Yukoners.

This can be done through an income-tested increase to the next quarterly Yukon Carbon Rebates of between $250 and $500, the party said.

Increase the Yukon Child Benefit and index it to inflation.

The benefit has not been adjusted since 2015 – and the cost of raising children has risen sharply since then, the third party said.

“A one-time upward adjustment from $820 to $983 per child would help struggling Yukon parents keep on top of their expenses,” the party said.

“This represents the inflation increase from 2015 to today.”

The child benefit should then be pegged to the annual rate of inflation going forward to ensure families aren’t falling further behind each year, the NDP said.

“We all understand kids are the future of our territory,” White noted.

Increase Social Assistance rates.

Those have not been reviewed since 2007 and, despite being tied to inflation, have never been enough to help people make ends meet in the territory, the NDP said.

The party is urging the government to immediately enrich social assistance rates by $300 per month to reflect the cost of living here in 2022 and to commit to a full review of the rates.

“Yukoners continue to be hit hard by the rising costs of fuel, food and housing,” the NDP said.

“As household expenses keep rising, the Liberals’ announced measures are simply not enough to help Yukoners afford the basics.”

(On Tuesday, the government announced:

• a one-time $150 payment to social assistance recipients;

• a one-time payment of $150 to Yukon Seniors Income Supplement recipients;

• a one-time 10 per cent additional payment to Pioneer Utility Grant recipients;

• a six-month extension of $500 per month to caregivers of children in out-of-home care; and

• $100,000 to the Food Network Yukon to continue to support food security across the territory.)

“Again and again, they (the government) has let Yukoners down,” White told media representatives. She called the one-time payment plans “an insult.

“The Liberal government package has no long-term vision. Yukoners in need of financial support are insulted by this meagre offering from the Liberals,” the NDP leader said.

“People will be back where they started in a month or two. Yukoners deserve better.

“The goal of any government should be to make the lives of residents better. With a near $40-million surplus in their spring budget, the Liberals should be looking closely at how to best use this money for the benefit of Yukoners.”

The government, White said, “should not be sitting on a pile of cash, doling out nickels while so many are still struggling to get by.”

The NDP has calculated the total estimated cost of its three suggested initiatives is $7.2 million for the year – a fraction of the estimated budgetary surplus, the party pointed out.

“Yukoners have been sharing the many ways the cost of living has increased in recent years, and that their dollars don’t go as far as they used to,” White said.

“I have lived paycheque to paycheque, and I know what it’s like to count every dollar.

“Yukon Government should be doing more than helping people just get by – they should be supporting Yukoners to thrive.”

Under the direct inflation relief proposal, about 10,000 Yukoners over the age of 18 would receive a direct payment through a top-up of the Carbon Tax Credit.

For example, a single person earning less than $70,000 annually would receive a payment of $500. This would affect 3,680 people and cost a collective $1.84 million, the NDP has tabulated.

A single person earning $70,000 to $89,999 annually would get $250 to $499.

Couples earning less than $70,000 combined would receive $500, while couples taking in $70,000 to $100,000 would receive $250 to $499.

“Five hundred dollars would buy another chord of wood to keep the house warm this winter,” said White.

“ ... These programs should have been tied to inflation, but they have not been.”

The total cost of providing for all these recipients would be $4.7 million, the NDP said.

As for raising the child benefit and indexing it to inflation, the NDP said, the increase from a maximum of $820 to $983 per child represents what the rate would be today had it been indexed to inflation since 2015.

Under the current program, a Yukon family of two children and two parents earning a combined $69,000 per year would receive $312.56 in total. The proposed increase would bring that figure to $374.68.

A household of two children and two parents earning under $35,000 per year would receive $1,966, up from $1,640.

The government estimates it will spend $1.45 million on the Yukon Child Benefit this fiscal year. This boost would elevate that to $1.74 million.

As for the modified social assistance rates, a $300 monthly top-up represents an approximately 17-per-cent increase.

“This amount not only helps them keep up with current inflation but gets rates closer to where they ought to be,” the NDP said.

If implemented for October, this rise would represent an estimated budget cost of $2.2 million for the remaining six months of the fiscal year, the party said.

The Liberal government, White said, is “offering dimes when Yukoners need dollars ... what Yukoners need is leadership.

“These three initiatives can be done immediately.”

In April 2021, the NDP signed an agreement with the Liberals to keep the minority government in power in the legislature. The accord will expire in January 2023.

During Wednesday’s news conference, White was asked if she is prepared to make the party’s three anti-inflation proposals conditions for signing any extension to the agreement.

She pointed out that MLAs will reconvene in the legislature next Thursday, and that Premier Sandy Silver announced Sept. 9 he will resign from that post after the Liberals choose a new leader.

“It’s too early to say anything,” White said.

“I will honour CASA (Confidence and Supply Agreement) until the end of January, and I can’t say anything past that.”

Her party has “a dozen other ideas” to ease Yukoners’ cost of living struggles, she added.

No one has publicly announced his or her intention to pursue the Liberal leadership.