Yukon NDP pulls political donation bill, says it'll focus on health-care bill instead

Yukon NDP Leader Kate White said Wednesday that a private member's bill aimed at tightening rules for political donations is not the one she'll "take to the finish line."

The party introduced Bill 309 on Monday. If passed, it would amend the territory's Elections Act to ban political donations from people living outside the Yukon, as well as from businesses, corporations, industry associations, unions and professional organizations.

It would also cap donations by individual Yukoners at $1,500 per political party, per calendar year. Parties found to be in violation of the law would be required to refund all contributions from individual Yukoners above that annual limit.

Through the confidence and supply agreement between the NDP and governing Liberals, the NDP is afforded one private member's bill to reach a final vote in the sitting in which it is introduced.

Speaking to reporters, White said her priority will be a bill related to health care.

"To be perfectly frank, I will be lucky to get one piece through and it's a piece of legislation I'm working on with the Yukon Medical Association that's really important," she said.

"That's the bill I'm going to try to take to the finish line."

That day was the first opposition Wednesday of the spring sitting – a time when private members' bills and motions can be debated.

Bill 309 was listed on the house order paper but it became unclear whether debate would proceed.

Following question period, the Yukon Party was the first to tell reporters that White intended to adjourn debate on the bill. Leader Currie Dixon said White had told that to the Yukon Party house leader that morning.

"It's a procedural question. I don't fully understand other than they intended it not to actually have an earnest debate about it but simply to make a political stunt about it. That's the only conclusion I could draw from it," Dixon said.

White then spoke to reporters and confirmed she would adjourn debate because the bill included errors.

The bill refers to the wrong section of the Elections Act four times – twice in English and twice in French. 

White expressed frustration with how her conversation was portrayed.

"I regret now being honest and open and transparent because I maybe shouldn't have told anyone. The reality is, there's a drafting error in the bill and it was shown to me yesterday after we called it. And I need to pull it so I can resolve that," she said.

Squabbles over political donations have become something of an annual tradition in the Yukon. The Liberals and Yukon Party have faced frequent criticism as the major beneficiaries of donations that are categorized as "other revenue," of which the sources do not need to be disclosed.

Meanwhile, the NDP has boasted that it stopped accepting union donations back in 2017 and relies overwhelmingly on individual contributions from people in the Yukon.

Dixon said he would welcome a discussion over tighter rules but in an all-party forum like the Members' Services Board. He also pointed to his party's 2021 election platform that promises to "close the loophole that allows parties to hide the source of political donations."

"I've never agreed with the idea that we should ban businesses from donating [to] political parties. I'm comfortable with the idea of having a cap, although I think $1,500 is probably too low," he said about Bill 309.

However, White was skeptical. She said for years, the NDP has been championing the fight for transparency to no avail.

"I could understand why Currie Dixon might be salty. I mean, in 2016, in that election campaign, the Yukon Party accepted a $10,000 donation from Victoria Gold, right?" she said.

"That's a political party that continues to accept donations from corporations and mining companies and numbered companies and outside donors. I don't think that's fair. I think that Yukoners should be the ones that influence Yukon political parties."