Despite having some difficulty meeting with the premier, NDP Leader Liz Hanson says she and her new caucus are ready and raring to go.

Hanson held a news conference amidst the party's half-packed office Thursday afternoon.

She told media that since election night (Tuesday), she has phoned the Yukon Party several times and even shown up at its headquarters to try to arrange a meeting with Premier Darrell Pasloski.

"There seems to be problem with the Yukon Party not having functioning telephones,” she said.

Hanson conceded she has yet to have a face-to-face meeting with Pasloski since he was sworn into office last June 11 in Dawson City.

"And that's not because I haven't offered,” she said.

The five new NDP MLA-designates — Jim Tredger, Lois Moorcroft, Kate White, Kevin Barr and Jan Stick— met with Hanson yesterday for the first time to talk about their game plan. The party has taken over the official Opposition role from the Liberals, who earned only two seats in Tuesday's election.

Hanson said she will meet up with each of her new caucus members to discuss their shadow cabinet roles in the coming days. Next week, they will move into their new official Opposition headquarters and be sworn into office.

Hanson reminded reporters that even though the Yukon Party won an 11-seat majority government, 59 per cent of Yukoners did not vote for that party.

"The Yukon Party's agenda is not the agenda of most Yukoners,” she said.

The party leader reiterated her campaign promises, saying the NDP is ready to hold the Yukon Party majority accountable on everything from health care to the Peel watershed's management.

When asked how her relatively "green” caucus would stay strong in the house, Hanson said "It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to ask a question.”

"That's really what we're trying to do: elicit a response from the Yukon Party. Most Yukoners just want their down-to-Earth, real questions answered by government,” she continued.

"I don't think you'll see that any of them are fearful of asking hard or clear or direct questions.”

As for dealing with the housing crisis, something both Hanson and Pasloski have said is the first thing on the agenda, Hanson said she wants to know what the goverment's plan to get Yukoners out of tent city on the legislature's lawn before it gets too cold.

"Those people are symbolic of a serious housing crisis throughout the city, throughout the territory,” she said. "If you can't deal with the symbols, how are you going to deal with the broader problems?”

Since expansions to the Salvation Army's shelter facilities aren't going to happen this winter, Hanson thinks the government should put the homeless and hard-to-house in the old hospital practitioners' residence. Her party has heard rumours that the 1950s-era building will soon be demolished.

The Yukon Hospital Corp. did not return the Star's phone call to confirm this.

Sure, the building isn't posh, Hanson said, but it's better than the windowless hotel rooms with no running water, where some of her constituents are staying right now.

"Surely to God ,we can find a way to make those available.”

As for the Peel and the NDP's resource legacy fund idea, Hanson talked about them both in terms of preserving something for future generations.

She said her party will not back down on its commitment to following through on the land use planning commission's recommendations.

"Suddenly, you had the premier threatening Yukoners that they are going to be in the hole for millions of dollars for accepting a land use planning commission?

"If he was serious about it, the Yukon Party government would have dealt with the issue when it was raised at the beginning of the process.”

Again, Hanson continued, it's a Yukon Party government that's got no vision.

"It's just reactive.”

See election commentary, letters in today's Opinion Section.