Uffish Thoughts: Reflections on Dawson's Black Tuesday

by Dan Davidson

What a lovely Easter present that was! The Bunny must have been working overtime to bring Dawson City such a gift.

Just think: a whole new government structure overnight. Delivered by chartered airplane at a cost of $2,954.00.

And that's not even counting the cost of the wages ($800 a day) and three trips to Dawson for the government agent, Supervisor Carrel, who helped to organize the whole thing.

It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

Well, I'm being sarcastic, of course. I'm sometimes accused of that, and today I have to admit I'm indulging myself.

At the public meeting on Wednesday evening I was restrained, did my best to ask proper journalist's questions which betrayed as little self interest as possible. But I do live here after all, have for 19 years, and it was tempting.

How odd that Mr. Andre Carrel, who told an audience in the same room in January that he really had no credentials at all for what he was doing, managed to catch what seems to have been a relatively simple accounting error in Dawson's 2003 budget, an error that was missed by three accountants here, the previous supervisor, a deputy minister, and an outside accounting firm before being approved by the territorial government for action after three readings by the council.

The excuse being given for the council's removal is that this elusive error added up to deficit of $1.4 million. We have been told that Dawson was unable to pay its bills.

That's odd, since the only cheques that have bounced lately have been ones that were mistakenly rejected by the local branch of the CIBC after the order was given to have Mr. Carrel authorize all future spending. The bank jumped the gun on cheques that had been issued days prior to the order.

At one meeting recently, I heard someone suggest that the CIBC error story was a lie. It wasn't. It may perhaps be true that not everyone got phoned in advance by the town's treasurer to warn them that this was going to happen, but I know that the Klondike Sun did, because our bookkeeper warned me it was going to happen before I heard about it at the public meeting.

What's more, I have beside me now the letter from the bank, which was sent out with the reissued cheques, explaining that it was their mistake.

All kinds of mistakes get made, of course.

In an interview published in the other paper on Wednesday, MLA Peter Jenkins refers to his impression that the new recreation centre was supposed to be a "year-round indoor hockey arena".

That would be another mistake.

I've been to lots more council meetings (two per month on average) than Mr. Jenkins ( two or three in total) over the last eight years, and I am certain that artificial ice was not part of the short range plan for the arena. It was hoped to have it in a decade, if the town could afford it. In the meantime, the ice surface was the same natural ice that has been here (and on just about the same piece of land) since 1979, except that it froze faster and lasted longer.

We got chased out of the arena early this season by a roof which was suspected of being about to collapse in the curling rink next door.

Now that was, to quote Mr. Jenkins again, "a sad, sad state of affairs for residents of my community."

Dawsonites can only hope, of course, that the new administration will be instructed to follow the trail of responsibility for that fiasco to where ever it leads, even though Mr, Jenkins seems to have decided already that it could not possibly be the contractors.

I see I've gone off on a slight tangent. My students get me to do this in class too, so I'll just do what I do when it happens there.

To get back to the original point, which was that budgetary error, it's hard to understand why a mistake that was made by so many people should now become the sole fault of five, who should then be punished for it.

It's hard to see why the community should suffer when government appointed bureaucrats guided the council members in just this direction over a two and a half year period, assuring them at each step along the way that they were doing well, being responsible. I’ve seen the letters, talked to some of the people. I know this is true.

Yes, it was going to be tight. This was the year, pinpointed three years ago as the crisis year, when pickings would be slim. But it was supposed to have been workable.

Still, errors get made. Maybe it was all a slip of the tongue, like when Environment Minister Jim Kenyon stood up during Question Period yesterday and seriously suggested that prime fish spawning habitat was being disturbed by the passage of the George Black Ferry across the Yukon River and that that was a good. environmentally sound reason to built a bridge.

I've never heard that suggested before. Just imagine fish spawning in the midst of a 7 knot current. What stamina those eggs must have to stay in place long enough to hatch. Whatever they're using for glue, we should research it and patent it.

Such a substance would probably be strong enough to hold together the tissue of innuendo and fault finding which has brought us to Dawson's Black Tuesday.

There were many letters to the Editor regarding the events of April 13. There isn’t room here for all of them, but these are the strongest.

This Hostile Takeover is Undemocratic

After the tragedy of 9/11 the way in which governments behave towards the people that elected them has changed forever. From the Bush Administration’s point of view, the cloud of 9/11 contained a 'silver lining’. Namely, 'carte blanche' permission for the USA, Britain and other powers to bully other, smaller countries. Remember Bush's State of the Union Address when he attempted to reduce the world into a simplistic good guy, bad guy environment? You’re either with us or against us! This renewed doctrine of America knows what’s best for the rest of the world and the methods used to carry it out is the yardstick by which many lesser powers now measure their performance.

These events have emboldened smaller governments to carry out an agenda that is, at times, dubious to say the least. The Yukon Party government and their hostile takeover of Dawson’s Municipal Government is a case in point.

Of course, the question is not about terrorism; the issue here is the abuse of power by the Yukon Party to meet a political objective based on personal prejudices within their Caucus. It was because of the personalities, actions and attitudes of duly elected Dawson Council that it has been held in the crosshairs of the Yukon Party since coming to power, not because of any wrongdoing. The Yukon Party has decided to flaunt the democratic process to get their way, to get rid of a contemptible itch, a troublesome gnat in the name of some higher cause. Worse, they are getting away with it, much like their much bigger governmental ‘brothers’.

Despite my dislike for the Yukon Party and its dictatorial practices I feel true compassion for Glenn Hart. Here is an MLA who has found himself totally out of his depth. As Minister of Community Services he is, by default, the front man - or should I say, footboy? - for the master manipulator, Peter Jenkins. Anyone who has observed Yukon politics over the last twenty or more years will understand that Jenkins is a clever fox who has made a good living in the Yukon henhouse for a long time. You can be sure that a newcomer like Hart was repeatedly running down the hall to Jenkins’ office like a little puppy, seeking direction on the Dawson question, ever eager to please.

My suggestion is obvious. What has happened in Dawson is more about Peter Jenkins than it is Glenn Hart and the Municipal Act. Even Premier Fentie is in Jenkins’ pocket. I remember the day when Dennis Fentie attended a NDP strategy meeting in Dawson, days before defecting to the Yukon Party, drumming his fingers impatiently, wishing he could quickly get back to his room at Jenkins’ Hotel so he could fall to his knees, take the leap of faith and swear allegiance to the Yukon Party mandate of hypocrisy and lies.

All of this could be just another hilarious episode of a daytime sitcom called ‘Days of Our Yukon Lives’. Unfortunately, the implications of what has happened and continues to happen is not only a blatant disrespect for the democratic process but, even more troubling is the thought that many Yukoners seem not to care. Complacency by the electorate provides fertile ground for fascism to take root. We only need to look back to see the sour fruit of that kind of unawareness in the Europe of the thirties and forties.

Yukoners of every political stripe should understand one simple thing: a newly elected Dawson Town council was forcibly removed from office on trumped up charges to satisfy a political objective and this was not done in the best interests of Dawsonites or other Yukoners. The reasons given were brought forward in a spirit of denial, confrontation and completely out of context and devoid of an honest understanding of what has transpired with Dawson finances and capital projects over many years.

Yukoners should also understand that replacing Town Council with a Trustee will not cause it to magically repay its debts.

Nor will it help to retain deadwood like André Carrel as financial advisor with the excuse that he has a “corporate memory” of Dawson finances. My “corporate memory” of Carrel has him leaving town with his tail between his legs after an ill-fated stint as City Manager in the (late) seventies (and early eighties). The only effect of these arbitrary actions is the continued demoralization of the citizens of Dawson. Apparently this is the perverse wish of the Yukon Party Government.

If it is Dawson’s debt that is central to the takeover, then why is the total loan amount owed to the taxpayer by Jenkins and a few other deadbeat debtors in Dawson City of more than a million dollars allowed to remain unserviced and uncollected? The Yukon Party has the nerve to bring the hammer down on the Municipality of Dawson but allows these and other individual delinquent debtors to enjoy an indefinite repayment holiday.

Our forefathers laid down their lives to defend our democratic rights and freedoms. They didn’t die to defend a Yukon Party dictatorship.

John Steins

Who is Stage Managing this Cosmic Show?

Dear Neighbours,

Councilor Joanne Van Nostrand voted her conscience last night. She spoke truth to power. We need such people in our service.

The machinations of this winter of discontent threaten to bankrupt our spirit. I have not the words, but here are some lines from Robert Service.

Who is stage-managing this cosmic show?

Blind fools of fate and slaves of circumstance,

Life is a fiddler, and we all must dance.

    From gloom where mocks that will-o'-wisp, Free-will

I heard a voice cry: "Say, give us a chance."

There's no haphazard in this world of ours.

Cause and effect are grim, relentless powers.

    They rule the world. (A king was shot last night;

Last night I held the joker and both bowers.)

Chance! Oh, there is no chance! The scene is set.

Up with the curtain! Man, the marionette,

    Resumes his part. The gods will work the wires.

They've got it all down fine, you bet, you bet!

I support the Council we elected because it is responsible to us. I have the right to question and to challenge its decisions directly, and I have exercised this right from time to time. Our councilors live among us. They are we.

However, I am not in charge. We are not in charge. Our Council is not in charge.

Democracy is hard work, but surely this cosmic show is worse?

Regards,

Judith Blackburn-Johnson