Federal campaign ramps up in Yukon as candidates look to reach voters

The federal election campaign is gradually ramping up in the Yukon, with candidates holding events, knocking on doors, putting up signs and otherwise trying to increase their visibility. 

Here's a roundup of what the people vying to be the territory's next MP got up to last week. 

Ryan Leef, Conservative Party

Ryan Leef held a rally to mark the official opening of his campaign office in downtown Whitehorse Thursday evening.

Introduced by former Yukon premier Darrell Pasloski, Leef spoke to a crowd of nearly a hundred people packed into a conference room at the Sternwheeler Hotel, and highlighted affordability as the top issue he'd been hearing about from Yukoners. 

"It's not a host of other issues… The main focus right now of Canadians and Yukoners in particular is, how am I going to live day-to-day? How can I afford life right now, and what are you going to do to make life more affordable for us?" Leef told the crowd. 

Leef highlighted Conservative promises like ending the carbon tax "for real and for good," lowering income tax and creating tax deductions for tradespeople travelling for work. He ended his speech with a familiar party slogan. 

"This is our time, this is your plan — folks, let's bring it home," he said. 

Rally attendees also had the opportunity to pick up lawn signs and speak with Leef directly.

Leef began a Yukon tour the next day, heading west to communities like Haines Junction and Beaver Creek. He was scheduled to make stops in Carmacks, Pelly Crossing and Dawson City Monday before travelling to Mayo, Teslin and Watson Lake. 

Gabrielle Dupont, Green Party 

Gabrielle Dupont joined party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault at an announcement in Whitehorse Monday where Pedneault pitched building a 120,000-person national civil defence corps. There would be priority hiring, he said, for former oil-and-gas-sector workers.

Dupont, at the announcement, said that the North was on the "front lines" of climate change, but also of energy self-sufficiency and Arctic geopolitics. 

"Let's be ready for these challenges," she said. 

Pedneault was the first federal party leader to visit the Yukon — or any of the territories — since federal Liberal leader Mark Carney called the election on March 23. Pedneault and Dupont also held a meet-and-greet at the Association franco-yukonaise building in downtown Whitehorse and went door-knocking during his visit.

Separately, Dupont told CBC News that she'd been very busy — in a good way — over the past week. She said her first batch of lawn signs arrived, which she's been distributing, and she's also been canvassing in Whitehorse and doing media interviews.

Brendan Hanley, Liberal Party

A spokesperson for Brendan Hanley's campaign said the incumbent was also busy last week, spending his days handing out and putting up campaign signs as well as visiting seniors' homes while door-knocking every night.

Hanley also joined celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Kwanlin Dün First Nation's final and self-government agreements. 

In a Facebook video, Hanley said that he's been "proud to deliver significant investments for Yukoners" before asking for voters' support. 

"I believe in the Liberal Party of Canada's vision… It's time to build this country to benefit everybody," he said in the video. 

Katherine McCallum, NDP

Katherine McCallum kicked off her campaign in Dawson City shortly after being announced as the NDP's Yukon candidate, spending time talking to residents about their concerns. 

After travelling back to Whitehorse, McCallum has spent time door-knocking, getting her campaign office up-and-running and doing interviews, a spokesperson said.

"With my experience as a union member, an artist, a single parent, and working on the ground in the community, I can see blind spots in legislation and advocate for real-world solutions that benefit real people," McCallum recently wrote on her Facebook page.

"I'm here to work for YOU, not to work for the political system."

2 candidates drop out

Two people who initially threw their hats in the ring dropped out from the race — André Fortin, who was running for the People's Party of Canada, and Jean-Michel Harvey, who was running for the Rhinoceros Party.

Fortin, in an email Sunday, said he was withdrawing his name because he "failed to assemble an adequate team" and also "failed to secure sufficient funding to continue."

"It has been two months and considerable expenses to get an education," he wrote.

"Thank you again to those hardy souls who came forward to help."

Fortin said he would not entertain media interviews until the election was settled. 

Harvey, separately, confirmed in a message to Radio-Canada that he was cancelling his campaign and would instead be throwing his support behind Leef. In a public Facebook post, Harvey also wrote that he believed that it was a "historical chapter for our [democracy]" and that he was pulling out of the race "to intensify the need that we stay united as a Nation."  

Harvey has declined interview requests with CBC News.

Campaign sign defaced

Meanwhile, one of Leef's campaign signs was vandalized over the weekend, with someone cutting his name out of a large sign posted near the Fourth Avenue and Robert Service Way roundabout. 

Asked for comment on the situation, Leef, in a written statement to CBC News, said his team was "fully focused on the excitement and enthusiasm for change a common-sense conservative government can bring to the Yukon and Canada." 

Hanley, in a Facebook post, condemned the vandalism, calling it "not only unlawful and wasteful, but disrespectful to those who have the courage to step forward for their communities, and who put their lives on hold to participate — regardless of political affiliation."

"We may not agree on all policies, but we should agree on this: democracy works when we respect the people who participate in it," Hanley wrote.

Election day is April 28.