{"id":564282,"date":"2026-03-27T12:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/564282\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:12:10","slug":"energy-upgrades-top-yukon-governments-1b-wish-list-for-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/564282\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy upgrades top Yukon government\u2019s $1B wish list for Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Money for urgent remediation and increased power generation top the Yukon government\u2019s more than $1-billion ask for federal funds as ministers caution the territory is facing an \u201cenergy crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy Minister Ted Laking said that the money would support mining for critical minerals and Canada\u2019s Arctic sovereignty goals. Additionally, it will help the territory keep the heat and lights on by avoiding the potential for rolling blackouts in the depths of winter.<\/p>\n

Laking recently wrote to federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson explaining the territory’s need for more federal investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe case we’ve made to the federal government is that these energy projects actually support national goals,\u201d Laking said this week, the first full week of business in the legislative assembly’s spring sitting.<\/p>\n

CBC News requested a breakdown of the territory’s $1-billion estimate.<\/p>\n

Over half of the money would go toward Yukon Energy’s power centres project, <\/a>which would include two new diesel power plants in the Whitehorse area. <\/p>\n

Another $150 million is needed for repair work at the aging Wareham dam, to ensure its structural integrity and protect the community of Mayo. The Whitehorse Generating Station also requires upgrades worth $150 million.<\/p>\n

The remaining funds are for contingencies such as higher construction costs in the North.<\/p>\n

The list leaves out projects that will take more time and coordination with other levels of government, such as the proposed Yukon-B.C. grid electrical connection, as well as work needed on the Dempster Highway to prepare for increased truck traffic.<\/p>\n

Yukon government press secretary Tim Kucharuk said the Dempster is the only year-round overland route to Inuvik, N.W.T., where the federal government plans to establish a military support hub. He said the added traffic could deteriorate and erode the road through the remote northern part of the territory, which the Yukon government pays to maintain.<\/p>\n

The request for new federal funds comes as the Yukon approaches its borrowing limit. Premier and Finance Minister Currie Dixon has repeatedly warned that the territory is nearing the $1.2-billion debt cap imposed by Ottawa. <\/p>\n

\"APremier Currie Dixon has repeatedly warned that the territory is nearing the $1.2-billion debt cap imposed by Ottawa. (Chris Windeyer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Deputy minister of finance Katherine White told CBC News the territory is still waiting to hear back from the federal government about its request to raise the territory’s borrowing limit to up to $3 billion.<\/p>\n

Questions about spending<\/p>\n

The legislative assembly this week also saw more discussion about the territory’s finances, including questions from the opposition about how much the government spent to hire consultants to write a couple of the premier’s recent speeches. <\/p>\n

Dixon confirmed the writing of his throne speech, at $9,000, and his budget address last week, at more than $15,000, were outsourced to the Canadian Strategy Group. The group has a Yukoner involved, Dixon said.<\/p>\n

He said these speeches are important articulations of the government\u2019s agenda but his office wasn\u2019t properly staffed to take on this task so early into the majority government\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

MLAs also had questions about the budget tabled last week.<\/p>\n

Debra-Leigh Reti, the Liberal MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin, expressed surprise that Dixon failed to mention Arctic security in his budget address, despite the new premier saying over the past years that the matter deserves more attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a call for action and it was the right call, but when we look at this budget, there is virtually nothing here that reflects that priority,\u201d Reti said.<\/p>\n

Dixon expressed disappointment that Prime Minister Mark Carney mostly \u201cleft the Yukon out\u201d of his recent announcement for military and Arctic infrastructure<\/a> \u201cacross the North.\u201d Dixon said the bulk of that promised federal investment will go to other juridictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we expect to see over the next 20 years is the federal government either constructing or renting a storage facility in or around Whitehorse,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cpales in comparison to the massive investment of $32 billion that the federal government has made in Northwest Territories and Nunavut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repealing the Clean Energy Act<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the territorial energy minister is attempting to repeal the Yukon\u2019s Clean Energy Act, which was introduced in 2022 and mandates greenhouse gas emissions and electric vehicle targets. It also compels Yukon government reporting on such objectives.<\/p>\n

Laking described the act as \u201cperformative,\u201d with unrealistic emissions targets. He said the Department of Environment has been tasked to come up with a new climate action plan. He declined to presuppose what new targets that plan could include.<\/p>\n

Laking said repealing the act will help reduce demand on the electrical grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Clean Energy Act was a form of gaslighting Yukoners,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn’t create clean energy. What it did is it created demand for energy, which ironically was fuelled by diesel.\u201d<\/p>\n

NDP energy and environment critic Lane Tredger disagreed with Laking\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n

\"AYukon NDP energy and environment critic Lane Tredger criticized the Yukon government’s goal to repeal the Clean Energy Act. (Dana Hatherly\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Tredger recalled the three or four years of consultation and hard work that went into the Yukon\u2019s 2020 strategy on climate change, titled Our Clean Future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a climate crisis,\u201d Tredger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYukoners are feeling the effects of floods and forest fires that are threatening their homes. They’re unable to cross rivers they used to be able to cross. They’re seeing the changes in the wildlife and the plants. This is very real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-564282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}