As the 2025 federal election day approaches, the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition (YAPC) is inviting the public to engage with local candidates to keep affordability—and its impact on poverty elimination—front and centre during the election.
The Actions for Affordability campaign provides voters with background information and key questions to ask candidates about improving affordability. The campaign highlights six focus areas: housing, food security, income supports, health, fair taxation, and representational data.
The questions for candidates draw on national and local research, as well as input from the community.
Fact: Housing is a fundamental human right, as recognized in Canada’s National Housing Strategy Act (2019), yet Canada has a very low proportion of non-market rental housing compared to other OECD countries. Renters across Canada and in the Yukon are increasingly facing precarious housing due to excessive rents, renovictions, disrepair, and discrimination.
Question: If elected, how will you support the development of affordable, non-market housing in the Yukon?
Fact: Food insecurity remains a major concern for Yukoners, especially in rural communities where access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food is limited. The Yukon Food Security Network calls for federal leadership to implement policies that support community-led food systems, ensure stable funding for school food programs, improve the eligibility and accountability of the Nutrition North program and build food systems that can withstand global shocks and the impacts of climate change (https://www.yukonfoodsecurity.ca/election).
Question: What strategies does your party propose to decrease food insecurity rates in the Yukon, especially in rural communities?
Fact: Income supports in Canada are not keeping up with the cost of living, leaving many families, individuals with disabilities, and low-income workers struggling to meet basic needs.
The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) has helped reduce child poverty, but it remains inadequate for families living in deep poverty and can exclude recent immigrants, making it less effective in lifting all children above the poverty line. The Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) is a step in the right direction, but supports remain far below what is needed to ensure financial security for people with disabilities.
Additionally, low-wage workers are not receiving sufficient support through the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB), which does not fully reflect the rising cost of living. YAPC stands with national organizations such as Campaign 2000, Citizens for Public Justice, and the National Advisory Council on Poverty in calling for increased federal investment in income supports, automatic enrollment in benefits, and more investment and support towards the creation of a basic income program to ensure no Canadian falls below the poverty line.
Question: What steps would your party take to strengthen income supports for Canadians?
Fact: Expanding access to essential medications and health services is key for the well-being of all Canadians. While the federal government’s Pharmacare Plan is an important step forward, it currently only includes select medications, such as those for diabetes and birth control. Many Canadians still face barriers to accessing necessary drugs. To truly ensure health equity, pharmacare must extend beyond these limited categories to include a wider range of essential medicines.
Question: What is your party’s position on expanding the federal pharmacare plan to include a broader range of essential medications?
Fact: Canada’s tax system allows wealth to accumulate at the top while essential public services remain underfunded. One major issue is the capital gains tax loophole, which currently allows individuals to pay tax on only 50% of their profits from investments, while workers pay tax on 100% of their wages. Over half of all capital gains go to the top 1% of income earners, reinforcing income inequality.
Question: How does your party plan to reform Canada’s tax system to ensure that all Canadians contribute their fair share while generating revenue for essential public programs?
Fact: Accurate and culturally appropriate data collection is essential for creating effective, equitable policies, yet major gaps remain in Canada’s current data systems. Improving data collection to better reflect the true cost of living in the Yukon and the extent of poverty in our community is an important first step, as is supporting Indigenous-led data sovereignty to ensure respectful, community-controlled data.
Question: How will you improve data collection and representation for the Yukon
Some of the candidates for federal government in the Yukon listen to a question being asked at a forum held by the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition. From left to right, Brendan Hanley for the Liberal Party, Katherine McCallum for the NDP, and Gabrielle Dupont for the Greens. Conservative candidate, Ryan Leef, was not in attendance. Photo by Talar Stockton, used courtesy of the Yukon News. Read about the forum, and the candidates' responses, in this article from the Yukon News.
