The Yukon government has used an order-in-council to bring in rent controls for the territory.

The controls consist of limiting rent increases this year to one per cent and tying future hikes to one per cent until 2023.

They were part of the items adopted from the NDP platform in the accord signed by the two parties on April 28. The controls went into effect on Saturday.

A news release issued late Friday afternoon did not explain how the government would legislate the control, which needed some official paperwork to make it legitimate.

“Effective May 15, the Government of Yukon is temporarily indexing residential rent increases in the territory to inflation,” the news release stated.

“Indexing Yukon’s residential rent to inflation is a key policy initiative agreed to under the Confidence and Supply Agreement (the two parties’ accord), which runs until January 31, 2023.

“From May 15, 2021, through May 14, 2022, landlords may only increase residential rents by 1 per cent, which is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Whitehorse for 2020.

“If a landlord gave notice of a rental increase that takes effect after May 15, 2021, they may still increase their rent but the rental increase is limited to 1 per cent. If the landlord chooses to proceed with a rent increase after May 15, the landlord will have to give their tenant a separate notice of the one per cent rental increase.”

The government will review the rent increase percentage each year after the CPI is published.

François Picard, the NDP’s chief of staff, quickly provided a copy of the order-in-council to the Star this morning.

Unlike normal legislation, a government can use an order-in-council to bypass the vote of the legislative assembly and ask the commissioner to implement cabinet orders directly.

“Indexing residential rent increases to inflation is one initiative to support the housing needs of Yukoners,” the new release says.

“The Government of Yukon continues to take a multi-faceted approach to increasing housing options for Yukoners throughout the territory. These include launching the Canada-Yukon Housing Benefit, which provides financial support directly to renters in need, as well as initiatives designed to make more housing available in the territory, such as the development of new residential lots.”

Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said in the release, “Stable, affordable housing contributes to the health and well-being of all Yukoners and it remains a priority for our government.

“This temporary residential rent index is one of many approaches to address the need for affordable housing in our territory.

“Over the next two years, our government will continue to work with both tenants and landlords to evaluate this initiative and look at further options to ensure Yukoners have access to housing they can afford.”

NDP Leader Kate White said “our economy isn’t working when people can’t afford their home.

“Tenants need protection now against hundreds of dollars in rent increase. This brings predictability to landlords and tenants and provides relief for tenants until more affordable rental units can be built.”

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon definitely wasn’t impressed with the move.

While he disagrees with the policy in general, saying it’s not “what the Yukon needs right now,” he is just as concerned about the lack of fair democratic process with the use of the order-in-council.

He said this morning it continues the pattern that the government isn’t providing any opportunity for debate and consultation, either with the public or in the legislature.

He also noted the accord between the Liberals and NDP doesn’t appear to be operating smoothly so far.

“The amount of finger-pointing between them in the last week has been breath-taking.”

Dixon noted Premier Sandy Silver pointed to White last Tuesday for an answer on how the rent control measure would work and when it would be implemented.

In response, White said she was waiting to hear something from the government.

Later in the week, Mostyn deflected all of the responsibility for the rent controls to the NDP.

He said it was a critical part of the agreement between the parties to form a stable government.

“It’s important to the NDP,” he told reporters.

He didn’t say it’s important to the Liberals.