The Liberal government was pressed on the $106,000 anonymously donated to the party, fielding questions in the legislative assembly this week.

“This is unprecedented – no party in Yukon’s history has received such a high proportion of their money from secret sources,” Kate White, the leader of the NDP, said Tuesday.

“Yukoners deserve basic transparency from the premier.”

The Yukon Liberal Party’s total revenue was $156,000 in 2019. This was nearly triple the revenue of both the Yukon Party and the NDP.

More than two thirds of that $156,000 was itemized under “other revenue” – without disclosing specifics about who provided the funds.

Devin Bailey, a former Liberal pary president, told the Star during the summer that “other revenue” constitutes funds raised at events.

“This changes year to year, but standardly includes things like our annual golf tournament and the Leaders’ Dinner — where contributions are raised through such things as food and beverage sales and silent auctions,” Bailey said in an email on July 17.

“We had a strong year last year and we owe that to the hard work of volunteers.”

The Star has made several unanswered requests for a breakdown of those fundraising events and the amount raised at each. 

Speaking to the media Monday, Premier Sandy Silver said that his party has followed all the disclosure rules.

Yukon political parties aren’t required to itemize “other revenue” totals.

Last summer, an Elections Yukon spokesperson noted that other jurisdictions have “more robust or tighter rules” around disclosure. 

Silver told media he will work with the party’s new treasurer to disclose more informaiton about the donations.

“You know, we’ve had very successful fundraising,” Silver said.

“The real issue here was that our volunteers did a lot of work.”

In the legislative assembly, the premier suggested White bring the issue of campaign financing reform to the Members’ Services Board (MSB), which is an in-camera committee.

White said that bringing the issue to the board wouldn’t illuminate the issue for Yukoners.

“This board meets behind closed doors, and even though I sit on it, I am not allowed to discuss anything that happens in these meetings,” White said.

White told reporters she isn’t confident a transparent conversation with the board will happen.

“Elections Yukon has made numerous recommendations and they’ve all been discussed in MSB, and the only one that we see in legislation going forward is fixed election dates,” White said.

“I’ve tried to put things on the agenda before – and I appreciate that the premier makes it sound like it’s a possibility – but let’s be honest, it’s not quite that easy.”