A series of articles is being published this week highlighting topics of concern to Yukoners for the Oct. 10 territorial election. The Yukon Party, Liberals and NDP each had an opportunity to pick a topic to debate with the respective leaders. The remaining two topics were selected by the Star.

The Liberals picked ethics as their topic of debate.

Ethics is defined as a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and motives.

Put more simply it is a system of principles and the accepted rules of conduct of a particular group.

According to Maple Leaf Web, a non-partisan political education website produced through the University of Lethbridge, the concept of ethics in government has become an issue of great public interest.

Until recently, many governments have not established rules for the ethical conduct of both elected officials and public servants, states Maple Leaf Web.

But over recent years more and more governments are creating guidelines in the wake of theft, fraud, conflict of interest and the treatment of government information, it says.

The question of ethics could be pointed in several situations that came to light in the Yukon legislature of the last four years.

The Yukon Party has repeatedly used sole sourced contracts, special warrants and made appointments through orders-in-council throughout their mandate.

John Edzerza, Eric Fairclough and Gary McRobb all left their respective party caucuses to later seek membership in another. The floor crossings are a practice common among Yukon's elected representatives.

Klondike MLA Peter Jenkins declined to pay back his more than $308,000 in government loans for much of his term in office, until he left the Yukon Party to sit as an independent as the case went to court.

Former Copperbelt MLA Haakon Arntzen was also allowed to continue to maintain his seat in the legislature despite lengthy absences related to an indecent assault trail.

However, according to the university's research, promoting ethics in government is critical for democratic participation and effective public administration.

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Dennis Fentie

'I can tell you that I'm proud and I will defend the ethical standards of the Yukon Party government's team, it's caucus and all involved. We have made every effort to ensure that we have conducted ourselves as the station of office we're in dictates,' says Yukon Party Leader Dennis Fentie.

The Yukon Party government did collect on the former cabinet minister Peter Jenkin's outstanding government loans, says Fentie.

It also allowed former Klondike MLA Haakon Arntzen maintaining his seat in the legislature to resolve itself, despite the court convictions for indecent assault, to resolve itself, says Fentie.

It was the right and ethical course of action, he says. It is not government's place to interfere in the course of justice, argues Fentie.

'We have not, in any way, shape or form, done things that would benefit ourselves. We have been criticized on many occasions, we have not reacted,' he says at the mention of sole sourced contracts.

The Yukon Party government believes in legislative renewal, he adds.

The commitment is based on the $124,000 Yukon Party-commission McKinnon Report, which stated Yukoners weren't so much concerned about how MLAs are elected, but the way the act in the assembly once they get there.

He, however, says Yukoners and opposition members should also remember a code of conduct does already exist in the legislative assembly.

'It's call the standing orders,' he says, which lays out the rules and procedures of the house and are enforced by the Speaker.

Ethics may be an issue with the federal government right now, says Fentie, but it is not in the Yukon.

'If the Liberals want to make this an issue, I'm very confident this will come back to haunt them given their conduct and the examples they've set over the course of our mandate,' he says.

Fentie says Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell 'has demonstrated conduct that is questionable when it comes to ethical standards.'

The incumbent premier says he feels Mitchell has misrepresented information to the public.

Fentie says Mitchell has provided out of context correspondence from the Ombudsman office when suggesting conflict of interest of cabinet ministers, presented affidavits to create 'a false perception' of government discrimination in hiring and has made 'false statements about Yukon finances.'

'It is a good thing Mr. Mitchell and the Liberals have made ethics a priority. That's something they should do,' he says.

The Yukon Party has lead the territory with the 'highest standards of ethics' and will continue to do so, says Fentie.

'The leadership of our party has demonstrated clearly that we are balanced, committed, hardworking and do have a vision and a plan for the Yukon.'

Yukon Party Platform Commitments

• Promote cooperative governance with Yukon First Nations based on mutual respect of each others jurisdictions

• Focus on consensus building, collaboration and compromise in the legislative assembly

• Work to improve the conduct and decorum of MLAs

• Continue to work towards establishing an all-party committee on government appointments

• Review and amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act

• Continue to work towards legislative renewal rather than electoral reform

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Todd Hardy

'The legislative assembly has to make some changes,' says NDP Leader Todd Hardy of ethics in Yukon government. 'It needs some more stringent rules, it needs some more guidelines for ministers and MLAs on conduct.'

Hardy says one of the main causes of ethical discussion during the last four years of government have arisen from conflicts of interest.

During the Yukon Party's mandate, Glenn Hart, Jim Kenyon and Archie Lang all were questioned if their private holdings and interests were creating a conflict on interest in their abilities to serve in cabinet.

It illustrates a problem in the system, says Hardy.

'So we need different conflict of interest rules obviously. If we had different conflict of interest rules maybe those things wouldn't happen; a minister would not be named into cabinet, for instance.'

One of the first steps needs to be a review of the MLA disclosure form, he says.

The Conflicts Commissioner David Jones has recommended they be changed to become more inline with other jurisdictions, says Hardy.

Part of the problem is many new MLAs struggle with resolving their past private lives and interests with their now public life, says Hardy.

'I see successful business people still trying to be two things and I say, You cannot be in public life and still be deeply invested,'' he says. 'You are now the property of the public. Your actions, what you do, is all suppose to be available for the public.'

Politicians can't mesh business interests and public interests, argues Hardy, and they can't be looking at their own bottom line.

Elected representatives should be required to shift physical assets out of their control, he says.

'If you're going to talk about ethics, if you're going to say you're going to be more ethical, you better yourself make sure that you are not pulling the wool over people's eyes.'

The NDP is committed to bringing ethics to government, he says.

The NDP has previously tabled legislation aimed at legislative renewal. The proposed act more clearly defined the behaviour, responsibilities and actions of members and officials in the legislative assembly.

The party has also tabled an act to address floor crossing in the legislative assembly.

Hardy says he was surprised the Liberals choose ethics to debate and to base their campaign around.

'I'm quite willing to sit down and have a debate on what (the Liberals) really mean on ethics but who can sit there and point and say, Our party is more ethical then your party therefore you should vote for us?'

'That seems to be what the Liberal campaign is about. Are we being told only the Liberals are ethical and we're (the NDP) not?

'If we're going to have a debate about ethics and politics, let's have that debate,' says Hardy.

NDP Platform Commitments

• Legislative reform within 18 months of being elected

• Creating a strict MLA code of conduct, restrictions on floor-crossing, fixed election and sitting dates and a non-partisan appointment process

• Establishing tough conflict of interest legislation and new financial disclosure rules for elected and senior government officials

• Ending the abuse of sole sourced contracts

• Passing whistleblower legislation within two years

• Improving the access to information legislation

• Providing honest and productive government-to-government relations with first nations

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Arthur Mitchell

'I believe that it's important to be truthful with people. To speak the truth, to be open, to be accountable. Not to say one thing behind closed doors and something else publicly,' says Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell.

Honesty, integrity and high ethical standards are the most important things a government can offer to its citizens, says Mitchell.

Ethical leadership must come from the top, he says, and a premier must take responsibility for the actions of his MLAs and not condone bad behaviour.

The Liberal party has based their platform and entire campaign around the concepts of ethics and integrity.

Mitchell defines ethics as, 'It's the old golden rule we're taught as children: do unto others, as you would have others do unto you.'

He also acknowledges that by placing ethics as a top priority it is 'fair game' for the other parties to throw it right back at the Liberals.

'I'm quite happy to answer questions about my own background and my own activities,' he says.

Mitchell says he is so open about his own past that he went above and beyond on the MLA disclosure forms stating all shares he holds in real estate companies, lists of property holdings, mortgage funds, interest in investments and a list of every company he and his wife, Nancy, hold equity in.

'I did it knowing that the opposition members or the government members would scrutinize it with great delight to look for where my interests are,' says Mitchell. 'But I think you have to look at trying to provide as much information to the people as you possibly can.'

Mitchell says the Liberals have chosen to make ethics an issue, because it is most frequent issue heard on the doorsteps.

The number of access to information requests that have needed to be filed by both MLAs and the public to get government information, 49 appointments made through order-in-councils just prior to Fentie dropping the writ and the number of sole source contracts used during the Yukon Party's mandate, are just some examples of frustrations Yukoners are having with ethical questions of government, says Mitchell.

The Liberal government will bring forward a Yukon Ethics and Accountability Act that addresses arrears on outstanding debt to government, improves the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and creates mechanisms to remove an MLA convicted of a serious criminal offense.

The Liberal candidates have also been required to sign a broad-sweeping candidate code of conduct that obligates them to observe high ethical standards, conduct relations with honesty and integrity and be frank and open about their performance.

'I think government ministers should actually have to answer questions in the legislature as opposed to jokingly parring them as if it's a debate and you don't want to answer the question,' says Mitchell. 'Questions are asked because the public has a right to know and they should be answered.'

Liberal Platform Commitments

• Measures to remove an MLA convicted of a serious criminal offence

• Requiring all candidates to sign a code of conduct

• Publish what contracts are sole sourced monthly and justify their use

• Review the Access to Information and Privacy Act

• Allow free votes on all matters that are not confidence votes

• Establish an independent commission on electoral reform

• Create an all-party committee to examine government appointments

• Work with all parties to achieve legislative reform