October 14th, 2025

Across the Yukon, people are being failed by their government. Health Centres have faced numerous closures and service reductions, making it challenging to keep track of which ones are open, closed, or operating on reduced hours.

This year alone, the Faro Health Center was closed or ran at reduced capacity for months. As Faro’s Mayor Jack Bowers told the CBC, "Faro is in a health-care crisis, and it doesn’t need to be," said Bowers.

"We've been essentially without nurse coverage now since early August. We're at a very restricted service level at this time and have no prospect of when it might be over." — and he’s right to be concerned. For communities without hospitals, these health centres are the first and only point of care. When they close, everyone is affected — residents, Elders, tourists, and workers.

These shutdowns are part of a deeper problem: austerity.

When governments cut corners, they cut people out. They reduce staff, underfund frontline services, and force burned-out workers to do the jobs of three people. Squeezing savings at the expense of healthcare is dangerous..

Through Access to Information requests, YEU uncovered that instead of investing in public healthcare, the Yukon Hospital Corporation spent over $20 million on for-profit staffing agencies since the pandemic — often paying double what a unionized position would cost. Meanwhile, the Yukon Government continues to find money for handouts to the United States for the $45 million Skagway ore dock, while claiming there’s no money to invest in the workers who care for Yukoners.

These impacts hit hardest in rural communities and among Elders and Indigenous Yukoners. Building trust with public service workers takes time. When those workers are replaced by short-term contractors or when services disappear altogether, that trust — and people’s sense of security — disappears with them.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The Yukon can choose to invest in its people.

Since 2018, public service wages have fallen nearly 10% behind the Consumer Price Index in Whitehorse. Housing prices keep climbing, and “middle-class” workers are being priced out of home ownership. The Yukon must compete for skilled workers — not by paying private agencies more, but by paying local, full-time, unionized staff fairly.

Our non-public sector YEU members are facing the same reality: stagnant wages. Because public sector pay has historically set the standard for the rest of the economy, when it lags, everyone feels the impact.

Healthcare isn’t a line item to trim. It’s the backbone of a healthy, thriving territory. A strong public service lets parents raise families, seniors age with dignity, and workers live with stability.

The Yukon Employees’ Union believes in responsible investment — in people who live and work here. A healthy public service isn’t just good for communities; it’s smart economics. It strengthens our territory and makes the Yukon more attractive to workers and businesses alike.

Austerity is not inevitable. It’s a political choice — and it’s the wrong one.

As we head into this election, the choice is clear:

Vote for lower costs, healthy communities, and better public services.

Vote to invest in the Yukon’s people — not cut them out.

Justin Lemphers, Yukon Employees' Union President