Sandy Silver is looking to reconnect with his constituents after a lengthy career, but first, he wants to focus on the business at hand.

Speaking to the Star Tuesday afternoon, Silver explained his thought process behind his recent announcement that he’ll be stepping away from politics after his term is up.

“After every election, you think about longevity in politics and so, going from a majority to a minority, you consider those things,” he said

“You start thinking about the team, you start thinking about all the things you want to get accomplished …. I think the dust settles on the minority.

“We signed the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA), the economy’s booming, we have the best GDP and economy in Canada, we’re moving forward on amazing legislative changes that have never happened before … ultimately, we are MLAs.

“Being a minister brings you out of your community a lot, being a premier even more … and then COVID comes along, and you really don’t see a lot of your riding.”

He recalled how he gave a graduation speech at Robert Service School.

“I didn’t know the valedictorian. I didn’t know most of the people that were graduating and to me, that’s a gut check, and you need the best people to represent the community and I need to get back to that community and have a better finger on the pulse.”

His 11 years as the MLA for Klondike have been “the best job I’ve ever had, and I think it’s time for somebody else in that riding who has a better connection to that riding currently because 2 1/2, three years of COVID really has separated me a lot from a lot of the leaders in that town.”

Post-politics, he’ll miss the people the most.

“To be in the position in a community … where the most brilliant people in that region, that country … they demand your attention and fill you with the wisdom of their years of experience – there’s no other job on the planet like that … I can call them up and ask for a meeting and they will gladly provide me with their wisdom.”

As for what he wants to be remembered for, Silver responded, “We worked hard. I’ve always led from the side with my ministers. There’s no one person that’s responsible for the success of this government.”

Every minister has worked hard, he added.

“Our decisions weren’t made from a political perspective … being able to make evidence-based decisions … there’s no like-minded people in this party. We challenge each other’s world views. So I’m just really proud of how we’ve governed.”

Two of the accomplishments he’s most proud of are resurrecting the Yukon Forum meetings with First Nations chiefs and having the chiefs accompany he and his ministers to Yukon Days in Ottawa.

For now, Silver said, he’s focusing on the task at hand.

“If you want to piss the gods off, make plans. I have no plans. I’m reconnecting with the good people in my community and that’s about it.

“There’s just so much work from now to then and who knows, that could be in 2025, when the next election happens.

“I’m not really focusing in on after this job yet. I’m focusing in on the mandate letters that have been given out to all my ministers … and making sure these are done in a timely fashion.”

Silver was asked about the Yukon Party’s description of him as a “lame-duck” premier.

“I think it’s hilarious. We have been extremely busy and really, I guess if you’re the leader of the official Opposition, yep, you’re right – I’m not on the ball field, so you didn’t see me there.

“I’m not in Hawaii, so when you cancelled public accounts meetings or don’t go to public accounts meetings, I’m not in Hawaii, so we’ve been working extremely hard,” Silver said.

“We immediately went to Ottawa after the session ended because now people can travel again. We’ve gone and spoken with the prime minister about what’s necessary for the Yukon going forward.”

Silver has also made trips to Calgary, Iceland and Greenland this year, promoting the Yukon.

Silver said they’ll be dealing with many issues in the fall session, which will begin Thursday.

“We’re tackling climate change, we’re working with a lot of different partners to increase housing options to build resilient infrastructure and to expand renewable energy as well … there’s gonna be a number of bills for the fall session … there’ll be a supplementary budget as well that covers spending up to now from the spring. Things like our response to fires and flooding in the summer – things that you couldn’t really prepare for.”

Also set for tabling are a Clean Energy Act and an Animal Protection Act.

As for criticism that the cost of living assistance his party announced last week is inadequate, Silver responded, “Every single budget that we put out is designed to make lives more affordable for Yukoners.

“Whether there’s international conflict that’s creating inflation on the global perspective or again, with the booming economy that we do have, there’s always going to be issues around housing.

“We’ve increased the stock at the same rate the population’s increased, which is a legendary increase in stock but yet, it’s still hard to tap that surface.

“We have problems of a growing mining industry. We have problems of a growing business community and we will always tackle those by making sure we partner with the agencies and the governments that are helping in leadership.

“We’ve done a great job, not only in these inflationary terms, but in the last six years to make sure that we’re making lives more affordable for Yukoners and when we compare with other jurisdictions, there’s no better place to live than Yukon.”

Silver added there have been discussions with the NDP to extend the CASA, set to expire in January 2023.

“The leader of the NDP and I both have had teams together this summer looking at an extension. We haven’t come to any finalization of that yet … we’ve committed to regularly scheduled phone calls and meetings and to keep the conversation going during session but also just focusing in on getting our current CASA to fruition and making sure that we accomplish what we set out to accomplish in that.

“My conversations with Kate (NDP Leader White) have always been very positive and I see a pathway forward to extending that in my opinion but, again, that takes two parties to decide, so I’ll just leave it at that.”

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