The Whitehorse mayoral race is a joke and we're all doomed
CBC
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With municipal elections fast approaching, the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum for the city's three mayoral candidates on Oct 13. Watching it, you could safely draw a single, important conclusion:
The Whitehorse race for mayor is a joke and we're all doomed.
There's little substantial difference between the candidates, all of whom are upper class settlers whose platforms are clearly geared to their own demographic. As a working class progressive voter who cares about renters' rights, action on climate change and social justice — not to mention my work as a long-time municipal and territorial politics reporter and commentator — there's no one running I can bring myself to vote for on Oct. 21. I may have to scratch my ballot.
Here's why.
Campaigning on a platform which included alleviating the housing crisis and climate change, Laura Cabott had almost no action-oriented solutions outside of "start a committee." Who she wants to solve the housing crisis for, however, is obvious: people who can afford to buy. Neither Cabott nor any other candidate ever even used the word rent.
Cabott's stated support for a beefed up SCAN Act — currently being challenged in Yukon's Supreme Court by multiple anti-poverty groups who say it targets the homeless — is problematic, if only because it's a right-wing dog whistle; Cabott is a lawyer and must know that power over the act falls to the territory, not the city.
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