Premier Sandy Silver feels that the Western Premiers’ Conference was positive and could benefit the Yukon.

The gathering took place Thursday in Edmonton. The conference drew the premiers of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon.

Silver spoke with the Star this morning, after having returned to the territory.

He said there was a lot of concern from the media about the pipeline debate, a topic that the premiers only spent five minutes on.

“We need to get off pipelines,” Silver said.

He said he talked about wildland fire management, the melting permafrost in northern Canada, connecting highways, the Arctic, utility corridors, health care and external trade.

When it comes to resource industries, the question is how to get product to market. This means talking about LNG and the electrification of the North.

He explained that the talk of utility corridors included the connection of the B.C. and Yukon power grids.

There was also talk of connecting the Saskatchewan and Alberta grids with the N.W.T.’s, as well as connecting Nunavut’s to Manitoba’s.

A big topic of the meeting centred on strengthening Canada’s position in the Arctic. Silver said this is important because climate change is creating new opportunities in that region.

He pointed out that, in a future ice-free Arctic, one fourth of shipping from Eurasia could be going through the area by 2030.

“As the environment changes, there are opportunities,” Silver said.

He called this the last free economic frontier.

Places like Singapore, Beijing and Russia are looking to the Arctic, he said, adding Canada has a responsibility to look at this too.

He said all premiers were on board with this.

The federal carbon tax did not come up at all during the meeting. He clarified that premiers did share some information about their carbon-neutral initiatives and how climate change affected their jurisdiction.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe referenced that the province is working on zero-emission plants. B.C.

Premier John Horgan reminded the group his province has had a carbon tax in place for some time, with few negative consequences.

Another topic was the federal government overstepping into areas under provincial and territorial jurisdiction.

Silver said the premiers talked specifically about health care. The feds do have some jurisdiction over this portfolio, but this does create conflict with the provinces and territories.

He explained that the Department of Health and Social Services is expanding over the rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The feds look to grow its health services at the same rate as the GDP.

He said this does not work for the Yukon.

Silver would like to speak further with the governments in B.C. and Alberta before conversing with the feds on this front. This is because the territory relies on services from these two provinces for medevacs.

The territory has negotiated some leniency on targeted funding. He explained that the territorial government should have some say on how money given to it is ultimately used.

Ottawa does need to know that this money is being used efficiently at the same time, the premier added.

He was proud to say that all partisanship was set aside. This meeting saw Liberals, New Democrats, Conservatives and independents all coming together, he said.

He pointed out that Horgan and new Alberta Premier Jason Kenney were both polite toward each other despite the long-simmering tensions over pipeline permitting.

Everyone came together as Canadians who were advocating for their home jurisdiction, Silver said. It was accepted that there would be some disagreements.

“It’s good to see adult conversations,” Silver said.

Overall, he felt the meeting was positive and productive. He said he would not attend these sessions if they were not.

The next premiers’ meeting will be for all provinces and territories.

This is the summer Council of the Federation gathering taking place in Saskatoon, July 9-11.

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