A Yukon Chamber of Commerce proposal to change who can vote in municipal elections would "open up a Pandora's box” which shouldn't be touched, warns Coun. Dave Stockdale.

At Monday evening's council meeting, city staff recommended against the chamber's proposal.

The concept would see the city bring forward a resolution to the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) that it ask the territorial government to look at changing the eligibility criteria to vote in municipal elections.

The AYC represents municipal governments in the territory and typically takes such legislative issues to the territorial government.

Municipalities generally bring forward resolutions to present to the Yukon government at the AYC's annual general meeting in April.

"The Municipal Act provides that voters in municipal elections must be Canadian citizens and have lived in the municipality for at least one year on polling day,” notes the administrative report that came forward to council Monday night.

"These requirements mean that there are many businesses that have no voice in municipal elections based on their residency being outside municipal boundaries. There are several alternate models of voter eligibility used in other jurisdictions across Canada.

"The Yukon Chamber of Commerce was directed by its membership to bring the issue of property owner rights to the Association of Yukon Communities and the Government of Yukon.”

Haines Junction has already voted against taking the chamber's resolution forward to the AYC, Rob Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services said at Monday's meeting after recommending Whitehorse do the same.

If the government examined the Municipal Act's provisions around voter eligibility, other issues such as age would also have to be reviewed, Fendrick said.

It would open up the issue to potential changes, such as reducing the legal voting age to 16, permitting non-Canadians to cast a ballot or making changes to or removing residency requirements.

It could create problems for running elections, it was noted in the report, including:

• difficulty in enumerating for the voters list;

• the possibility of a person having more than one vote if there were provisions for an individual to vote on behalf of a corporation as well as an individual;

• permitting someone who owns property in more than one municipality to vote in each of those municipalities; and

• the possibility of establishing a radius from the municipality, or allowing a property owner in another country to be eligible to vote in the municipality.

"If the City of Whitehorse is interested in supporting this recommendation to the Association of Yukon Communities, it will be necessary for the city to examine the potential consequences in detail and be prepared to address these issues if the Government of Yukon opens the issue for discussion,” it's noted in the report to council.

Stockdale attended an AYC board meeting where the matter was first discussed. He agreed with the administrative recommendation not to put it forward as a resolution at the AYC's annual meeting.

Coun. Doug Graham blasted city officials for how the matter was brought to council.

First, council members, with the exception of those at the AYC board meeting, were just "hit” with the proposal last Friday afternoon, when their weekly council document packages became available, Graham said.

Those not at the board meeting were never told of the discussion that happened there, Graham said. If there are other options for voting out there, maybe the city should look at them, but there hasn't been time to do that, Graham argued.

"I'm really disappointed,” he said of how the matter was brought forward. There are a number of business owners who have a huge investment in the city but have no say in the municipal election, he added.

Coun. Dave Austin, who recently left his position as the chamber's president, said Tuesday he agrees with Stockdale that the proposal opens up too much of a Pandora's box.

"I don't think it's worth pursuing,” he said.

While he stressed that he's not speaking on the chamber's behalf, he said the proposal came out of the chamber's annual meeting held in Dawson City.

It originated with concerns that those with a major business interest in the community can't vote in a municipal election.

Even if council opposed city staff's recommendation and vote in favour of bringing the idea forward to the AYC, there would still be a lengthy process involving the AYC having to bring it to the government, to then go through a process there.

Despite his former role with the chamber and being part of those discussions with the organization, Austin said he doesn't believe he'd be in a conflict of interest by voting on the matter as there wouldn't be any financial benefits to him.

Ray Wells, the second vice-president of the chamber who's dealing with the proposal, was unavailable for comment.