Stooping Low & Getting Caught: Yukon government planned to share secret strategy to frac Yukon with Harper but not Yukoners

Fracking documents raise ire among Yukoners, ‘The whole operation of this government is behind closed doors,’ says citizen Don Roberts by CBC News, MarCH 10, 2015
“They’re dishonest,” says Don Roberts, who heads an advocacy group that is opposed to fracking, of the Yukon government. “They’re not up front with Yukoners.”

The documents include a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the findings of the Legislature’s select committee on hydraulic fracturing and a draft speech written for Minister Scott Kent. Both documents show plans to make an economic case for fracking in the territory.

Roberts says the documents, reveal that the Yukon government has already made up its mind to frack, regardless of what people told the select committee on the issue. “Government is done best when it’s done in the open, and when you actually engage in an honest way with citizens,” he says. “The whole operation of this government is behind closed doors.”

The Yukon Conservation Society was also shocked by the documents. “It’s interesting to be making an economic case for an industry that doesn’t exist in the territory,” says Christina MacDonald, executive director of the conservation society. “How can you say it’s integral to the economy when it’s not even here and we’re doing just fine?”

NDP leader Liz Hanson agrees the government isn’t being open with Yukoners. “I think the Yukon Party government is going to have a very difficult time explaining itself,” she said yesterday.

Hanson says while government may call the documents a draft, it’s clear that cabinet provided the initial direction to pursue a policy to develop regulations and attract the industry to the territory.

Liberal leader Sandy Silver was a member of the Legislature’s select committee on hydraulic fracturing. “It begs the question, why have these committees at all, if you’re not going to listen and I mean really listen to what you’ve heard,” he said this morning.

The CBC has requested an interview with the premier, but his office has declined to comment. [Emphasis added]

Yukon government regrets mistakenly releasing fracking documents to media by The Canadian Press, March 9, 2015, Winnipeg Free Press
The Yukon government says it regrets accidentally emailing internal draft documents in which it recommends fracking to the media. The Energy, Mines and Resources Department says it was sending a presentation and speech to other departments for review when the email was mistakenly forwarded to a local reporter. It includes recommendations to focus on fracking and oil and gas basins in the territory and has since been publicly released.

The documents outline a government response including a public information campaign and an economic study. The government says the recommendations do not advise a decision to either allow or disallow fracking and noted that there are no current proposals for shale and gas development.

The documents were drafted for a presentation to Parliament [Yukon government planned to tell Harper et al, but not Yukoners?] later this month in response to a select committee’s report on fracking in the Yukon. [Emphasis added]

Yukon draft fracking strategy was unseen by caucus, Gov’t ‘regrets the error’ after documents were accidentally forwarded to a member of the local media by CBC News, March 9, 2015
The Yukon government has responded to a CBC news story that published internal government documents revealing the government’s draft strategy for hydraulic fracturing in the territory. In a news release issued Sunday, the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources says the documents, which illustrate advanced preparations for fracking in the territory, “had not yet been seen or approved by caucus or the EMR Minister.” It also says the documents were “accidentally forwarded to a member of the local media” and that the department regrets the error.

“The Yukon government acknowledges that this is an important issue for Yukoners and it is moving forward to complete an approved response to the suite of recommendations in the Select Committee’s report.” [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

Yukon government pushing fracking, Documents from Energy, Mines and Resources recommend working on ‘regulatory readiness’ ]

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