After several days to digest announcements made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his Whitehorse visit last Friday, opposition election candidates have presented their thoughts on the introduced initiatives.

The general consensus among the three candidates the Star spoke with is that money put toward military and tourism is not necessarily a bad thing.

Whether it makes up for previous cuts and slashes in budgets in those sectors is another question.

“The numbers and history speak for themselves ... if the polls are correct, then Harper wont be our prime minister,” NDP candidate Melissa Atkinson said this morning.

Last Friday, the Conservative leader announced his intent to create a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) reserve unit in the territory.

The promise of the unit builds on Harper’s previously announced plan to expand the CAF as a whole, while adding operations in the North and a specialized emergency response for natural disasters.

The territory hasn’t had its own reserve force since 1968.

“I don’t have any trouble with that,” said Green Party candidate Frank de Jong.

Liberal candidate Larry Bagnell echoed that sentiment, adding that he is glad Harper is undoing military damage.

The Harper government doesn’t have the best track record with veterans.

Atkinson raised concerns with the Harper government’s cuts to Department of Veterans Affairs offices across the country in 2014.

Yukoners spoke out against the office closures at the time, despite Yukon MP Ryan Leef’s assurances that the closures would not affect the territory – as there was no Veterans Affairs office in the territory to begin with.

“What is more meaningful, an office and benefits for immediately raising the quality of life for veterans or having some military presence thats been promised?” Atkinson asked.

“If you don’t have that kind of service (for veterans), that to me is a definite loss of presence and accessibility.”

Veterans were also brought up by Bagnell, who mentioned that he sometimes cringes at the way Harper treats veteran military personnel.

At another announcement last Friday in Whitehorse, Harper announced that the Conservatives will allot $9 million to promote tourism in the hunting, angling and snowmobiling sectors, starting in 2016.

Atkinson said although it would be worth comparing all of the parties’ plans for that sector, money going toward tourism is a good thing – an opinion reverberated through Bagnell.

Harper’s previous budget cuts to the Canada Tourism Commission – now called Destination Canada – was something Bagnell said he fought against at the time.

“When you cut tourism, it hurts us more than anyone else,” he said yesterday.

The new tourism money seems to be akin to damage control, Bagnell suggested.

If re-elected, another $5 million per year would be allotted for programs to improve habitats and sustain populations for animals – of which, Harper listed moose, deer, turkeys and migratory birds.

The prime minister added a few measures to “remove barriers and irritants” that hunters of migratory birds currently face – including the permitted use of crossbows in hunting, labelling packages of harvested birds instead of each bird individually and developing a family hunting permit.

Several online commenters have taken issue with the fact that there do not appear to be wild turkeys in the Yukon.

“Does (Harper) understand what Yukoners want when he lists things like wild turkeys?” Atkinson laughed.

“There’s a brand of whiskey called ‘Wild Turkey’ at the Yukon liquor store.”

The territory’s Green Party candidate believes there’s good intent in protecting wildlife habitats.

“The way that was framed, was to protect and conserve species that are under hunting pressure ... of course, we should be conscientious of maintaining the habitats,” de Jong said.

“(But) we have to be careful how to spend this money ... I don’t have any trust in what Stephen Harper says.”

The federal candidates will be heard from at several debates planned in the upcoming month, starting with one on Sept. 23 organized by the Yukon College Student Union.

De Jong, a Faro resident, told the Star today he will be unable to attend the college debate.

A speed-dating-style debate is being put on by a local group called SMRT Pop Ups for Sept. 30.

As reported on p. 3 in today’s edition, the Yukon Chamber of Commerce confirmed today that four out of five candidates have confirmed their attendance to its federal election debate on Oct. 14.

Libertarian candidate Cory Laidler did not respond to the Star before this afternoon’s press deadline.

See letters on the campaign.