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More than a quarter, or 28.6 per cent, of the Yukon’s 21 MLAs are landlords or have disclosed that their partners are landlords — including four government MLAs, and two from the NDP.
That means they stand to be directly affected by proposed changes to the territory’s Residential Tenancies Act that the government has said are intended to “restore balance” to the rental market.
At the top of the fall sitting, Community Services Minister Cory Bellmore introduced a bill to amend the act by ending rent caps and bringing back evictions without cause. The opposition has been pushing back, asking questions about the changes and trying to convince the governing Yukon Party, which forms a large majority, to slow down to consider tenants’ anxieties and uncertainties around the changes.
Official Opposition Leader Kate White also questioned whether some Yukon Party MLAs were landlords themselves.
“If they stand to benefit, their family stands to benefit from these changes, they need to recuse themselves from this vote,” White said earlier this month when the amendments were tabled in the legislature.
Speaking to CBC News this week, White said she’s not concerned about the MLAs in her own party who are landlords voting against the amendments.
“Conflicts, whether they’re real or perceived, matter,” White said. “In this case, for Yukoners who are tenants knowing that there are people making decisions that will affect their ability to afford housing, to safely or confidently live in housing, it feels like a conflict.”
White asked Bellmore in the legislative assembly this week which Yukon Party MLAs are landlords. The minister said she wasn’t familiar with her colleagues’ personal situations and how they generate income.
Disclosing conflicts
The proposed legislation has passed second reading and is expected to go to a final vote this fall.
Ahead of the vote, MLAs must disclose if they rent out properties in the territory.
Members can disclose their conflicts via disclosure forms which also ask for other information, such as membership and affiliation with businesses and organizations.
CBC News reviewed the filled-out forms, which are kept locked in a vault in the legislative assembly office, for each MLA to verify the information provided by the political parties.
Upon request, the forms can be reviewed by journalists, politicians and individuals at an in-person appointment. While notes are allowed, no photos or copies of the forms are permitted.
Yukon Party caucus press secretary Tim Kucharuk said that four out of 14 Yukon Party MLAs have disclosed they are landlords: Jen Gehmair (Marsh Lake-Mount Lorne-Golden Horn), Laura Lang (Whitehorse West), Patti McLeod (Watson Lake-Ross River-Faro) and Adam Gerle (Porter Creek South).
As for the six Yukon NDP MLAs, the party’s communications lead Jane Robinson-Boivin said Carmen Gustafson (Riverdale North) is a landlord, and Klondike MLA Brent McDonald’s wife is a landlord but the property is not in McDonald’s name.
Jason Cunning, who does communications for the Yukon Liberals, said lone Liberal MLA Debra-Leigh Reti (Vuntut Gwitchin) isn’t a landlord.
The territorial conflict of interest commissioner declined an interview.
According to Kucharuk, the conflict commissioner has informed MLAs that there’s no conflict of interest when it comes to casting a vote on changes to the Residential Tenancies Act because it applies broadly and it doesn’t single out specific properties or landlords.
If there were a conflict for landlords, then there would also be a conflict for tenants, Kucharuk said, citing the conflict commissioner.
For example, MLAs can vote on tax legislation, which affects everyone.