ADVOCACY / YCC COMMITTEES

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Our advocacy committees are focused on addressing barriers to businesses and provide the Government of Yukon with essential perspectives and solutions that reflect the priorities of Yukon's ever-changing business community. Yukon Chamber of Commerce (YCC) Committee members leverage this dynamic, innovative and forward-looking forum to stimulate collaboration and change in support of building and maintaining a more diverse and sustainable Yukon economy.

The mandate of our Committees is to provide advice and counsel to the Board of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce on matters affecting Yukon businesses. The Committees comprise YCC members and business representatives with specific expertise in industry sectors.

The Energy Committee brings together subject matter experts and Yukon businesses to explore a range of energy issues, options and solutions with the objective to lower costs, fuel meaningful change and provide feedback on the policies and regulations that are having a direct (and indirect) impact on the bottom line.

The Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee works on the challenges facing these important industries by providing coordinated strategic advice, information, industry perspectives and position recommendations to the Yukon Chamber's Board of Directors and by meeting with senior government officials responsible for regulating the Food, Beverage and Cannabis sectors.

The Joint Procurement Committee is a joint committee of the YCC and the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce - the joint Committee's mandate encompasses federal, Yukon and municipal procurement matters.

The Joint Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is a joint committee of the YCC, Yukon Chamber of Mines and the Yukon Producers Group (mining). The committee has a broad mandate to address a broad and diverse number of infrastructure and transportation matters.

Explore YCC's Committees:

Energy Committee
Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee
Joint Procurement Committee
Joint Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Yukon Chamber of Commerce Committees

Energy Committee

Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee

Joint Procurement Committee

Joint Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Yukon Chamber of Commerce

YCC Energy Committee

Get Involved!

The Yukon Chamber of Commerce Energy Committee brings together subject matter experts and Yukon businesses to explore a range of energy issues, options and solutions with the objective to lower costs, fuel meaningful change and provide feedback on the policies and regulations that are having a direct (and indirect) impact on the bottom line.

Committee Members

Chair: John Campbell (Ground Reflections)

Committee Members: Hector Campbell (Campbell’s North Consulting), John Maissan (Leading Edge Projects Inc.), David Thompson (Eavor Yukon Inc.), JP Pinard (JP Pinard Consulting), Anne Middler (Kicksled Revolution), Ben Power (Solvest Inc.), Luke Pantin (YCC)

Recent Activity

2022-2023

1. Yukon Energy

Met with senior management from Yukon Energy to discuss:
Cost of Service and Rate Design Phase II
Update on resource plan, renewable energy options including IPPs
Seasonal SOP/IPP power purchase rates to promote winter focused energy supply – time of use pricing
Energy Infrastructure as it relates to electrification - hydro grid load forecast, residential line capacities, transformer limits,
Discussion on Clean Energy Act and omission of hydro targets
Update on Water Licenses
Discussion on short-term and long-term collaboration
Yukon Utilities Board issues
Review of Yukon Energy’s priorities for the coming year

2. ATCO Electric Yukon

Met with senior management at AEY to discuss:

Cost of Service and Rate Design Phase II
General Rate Application – approach, options
Overearnings – update and discussion
Update on IPPs in diesel grids including Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay, Watson Lake (hydro, wind and solar)
Opportunities for pilot projects involving smart metering and new rates
Partnership opportunities for local companies and First Nations
Collaboration opportunities, regulatory matters and others
Review of AEY priorities for the coming year

2021-2022

Letter submitted to YESAB regarding the screening report and recommendations regarding the Yukon Energy Corporation water license application. Our primary concern was the potential negative impact of lowering the lake level on electrical generation. This could impact our business community through curtailed access to electricity and potential for increased electrical rates.
A follow up letter was sent to Minister Streicker regarding the Aishihik decision document. We highlighted the short- term license at five years was not good policy and will result in costly reassessment with little improvement from an environmental protection perspective.
The Committee explored the idea of using input output models as a way to measure the contribution of energy producing sectors on the economy. We came to the conclusion that this type of modeling would not provide the economic analysis we were hoping for.

We wrote a letter to Premier Silver regarding the Yukon Clean Future Strategy. The Committee encouraged quick action on the Clean Energy Act; requested the Government refocus the Yukon Utilities Board’s mandate to include carbon emissions as part of their deliberations on Part 3 energy certificate recommendations, which would bring Yukon into alignment with other jurisdictions in Canada; for the rest of our recommendations.
Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall presented the corporation’s ten-year plan. Highlights included: the battery storage project is advancing, Atlin hydro project is proceeding; Moon Lake pump storage project is considered critical infrastructure and work is proceeding on this project; and there is some work on the Southern Lakes expansion. Mr. Hall mentioned he supports the idea of improving the Yukon Utilities Board mandate; he cautioned that we must be careful not to create an additional layer of environmental assessment.
There was a detailed letter and meeting with Minister McPhee and Minister Streicker regarding the Yukon Utilities Board mandate and what we see as a need for a modernized approach to the board’s information gathering and mandates. Our recommendations were received in a positive light and we will be following up with them over the summer.

Current Priorities

Key issues of concern include but are not limited to:

ADVOCACY. Regular meetings with Yukon Energy, ATCO Electric Yukon and Government of Yukon officials to discuss and advance energy issues, opportunities and forward-focused planning.

CLEAN ENERGY ACT. Participation in the leadership being provided from industry/private sector in the implementation, monitoring, and assessment of the Act at achieving its objectives while ensuring that activities are reasonable and do not cause undue hardship on businesses.

RENEWABLE ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES. Continue to table ideas, solutions, and industry perspective to the assessment, development and expansion of renewable energy innovation and investment in hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, energy storage, and new technologies.

ELECTRIC ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE. Provide timely and strategic input to government and other stakeholders in the assessment, planning and development of expanded electric infrastructure and capacity and storage to meet Yukon’s growing energy needs.

ELECTRICITY RATES. Continue to table ideas, solutions and industry perspective to electrical rates including improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory environment. Support innovation in exploring more efficient ways to conduct General Rate Applications, a Phase II Cost of Service and Rate Design, simplifying electrical bills, and addressing inefficiencies in the regulatory environment and the Yukon Utilities Board.

SMART GRID SYSTEMS. Support to establish standards for the implementation of Smart Grid systems at the generation, storage, transmission and distribution levels (including Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and isolated grids), and plan to integrate, develop and leverage that technology.

GRID INTERCONNECTION. Support and collaborate with efforts exploring the feasibility of grid interconnections, and leadership roles that will be required from Canada, Yukon, BC (and potentially Alaska) governments on this issue.
PARTICIPATION/INPUT TO GENERAL RATE APPLICATION. ATCO will be going ahead with a GRA in 2023 in response to YUB and Yukon Utilities Consumers’ Group. The Energy Committee will explore efficient and relevant ways to provide business and other perspectives to the GRA working with consultants and other organizations acknowledging the expense and time commitment to be a registered intervenor.

Resources & Correspondence

Letter to Minister McPhee re YUB Feb 2

Letter to Min McPhee and Min Streicker follow-up Mar 1 meeting FINAL

CFIB letter re ATCO Electric Yukon Rate Hike

YCC Energy Committee Priorities 2023-2024

Energy Committee Meeting Record and Action Items Dec 13 2023

Yukon Energy 2023 Priorities Presentation March 30
2023

Yukon Clean Energy Act

Response from Minister McPhee RE: Electricity June 13, 2022

Letter to Minister McPhee and Minister Streicker, follow-up March 1, 2022, Meeting

Letter to Minister McPhee RE: YUB February 2, 2022

YCC's Energy Committee works to:

Identify energy policy and infrastructure needs, gaps and opportunities;
Conduct research on key issues;
Provide input on YCC submissions to the federal and territorial government and agencies on key energy-related issues;
Develop resolutions for consideration by Yukon's member Chambers.

Terms of Reference

2023-2024 Meeting Schedule:

January 19, 2023
February 23, 2023
March 13, 2023, with AEY
March 30, 2023, with YE
November 17, 2023
January 25, 2024
Next Meeting: TBC

Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee

Get Involved!

The Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee is proud to work on the challenges facing these important industries by providing coordinated strategic advice, information, industry perspectives and position recommendations to the Yukon Chamber's Board of Directors.

This committee includes representation from across the food, beverage and cannabis sectors, including:

Licensed public houses, bars, cocktail lounges and clubs;
Licensed Liquor Off Premise Sales Establishments;
Licensed Cannabis Retailers;
Licensed and Unlicensed Restaurants, Snacks Bars, Cafés, Canteens, and Caterers;
Hotels, Motels, and other short stay accommodation establishments serving the tourism industry; and
Cannabis Licensed Producers.

Committee Members

Chair: Rich Thompson (NVDLP)

Committee Members: Travis Milos (Whiskey Jacks, Big Bear Donair), Jordi Mikeli-Jones (Triple J’s), Eddie Rideout (Wayfarer Oyster Bar), Dave Brierley/Nail Sultanau (Big Bear), Jeff Erasmus (North Bound Design & Build), James Maltby (Woodcutters), Dale Colbran (Caribou Crossing), Rey Concepcion (YCC Board), TBC (YCC)

Recent Activity

2022-2023

The Committee met four times during the year via virtual meetings. The focus for the Committee was on initiatives to improve the operation and financial viability of Food, Beverage & Cannabis (FBC) businesses across the Yukon.

The Committee met with the Department of Economic Development in February and tabled a number of important issues for the FBC sector. Our issues crossed over three departments and we asked Ec Dev to respond to us in a “One Government” context – saving us setting up meetings with two other departments. Theses are the key issues we tabled with the Department:

Privatization. The YCC continued to advocate for more privatization of retail liquor businesses – referencing the move in Saskatchewan to sell off all government liquor stores. An emphasis would be on SMEs, not on national ‘Big Box’ stores.
Wholesale Liquor Pricing Policy. The Committee compiled comparative data from other jurisdictions to support YLC looing at a more ‘business sustainability’ focused and competitive wholesale pricing structure. The Committee called for a 25% reduction from retail introduced in response to COVID impacts - up from the current 17-18%.
Product Flow. The Committee made a number of specific recommendations that would improve product flow while at the same time reduce costs and increase efficiencies in the YLC distribution system.
Cannabis Licensing Policy. The application and licensing through the Cannabis retail licensing policy created some challenges for a startup business due to inconsistent interpretation and application of the policy. The YCC worked to support policy application that is coordinated and consistent.

2021-2022

The Committee met with the Department of Economic Development in February and tabled a number of important issues for the FBC sector. Our issues crossed over three departments and we asked YG Economic Development to respond to us in a “One Government” context – saving us setting up meetings with two other departments. Theses are the key issues we tabled with the Department:

Current Priorities

The Committee remains focused on supporting SMEs across the Yukon by sharing with government best practises from across Canada where liquor and cannabis cost of product, licensing, and distribution support small businesses in smart, innovative approaches currently not practised in the Yukon.

The Committee has met with YG Cabinet members to reinforce the challenges that continue to negatively impact the viability of FBC businesses across the Yukon. A specific focus has been placed on developing a Wholesale Liquor Pricing Policy that is competitive with the BC Liquor Corporation that on average reflects a 25% discount to Licensees and Liquor Retailers.

Resources & Correspondence

The Food, Beverage and Cannabis Committee works to:

Identify and review laws, acts, regulations and policies elated to the various industries within the food, beverage and cannabis sector, e.g., Yukon Liquor Act, regulations and policies, Yukon Cannabis Controls and Regulations Act, Yukon Health Act, and the Canada Food and Inspections Agency;
Identify law, regulation and policy issues, impediments, needs, gaps and opportunities as they relate to various industries within the sector;
Identify barriers to promoting and ensuring a Yukon wide, healthy business environment for food, beverage and cannabis businesses to develop, grow and diversify, e.g., labour shortages, housing shortages, minimum wage adjustments; and
Develop consensus on issues affecting food, beverage and cannabis industries and consult with governments on these issues.

Terms of Reference

2023 Meeting Schedule:

Feb 22 - Committee Meeting
Nov 15 - Committee Meeting
Next Meeting in 2024 TBC

Joint Procurement Committee

Get Involved!

The Joint Procurement Committee (the 'Committee') is a joint committee of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce and the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce. The Committee advocates for and supports the procurement of local goods and services through initiatives. Specifically, the Committee provides information, industry perspectives and strategic advice on the initiatives such as:

Involvement in stakeholder committees and advocacy to all levels of government to ensure that Yukon Business (Territorial Government) and Local Business (Municipal Government) definitions support Buy Yukon and local preference in public sector procurement;
Ongoing evaluation of the proportion of government contracts/tenders issued to local businesses under these definitions;
Ensuring that municipal and territorial governments make it priority to source local products and services;
Continuing to advocate for municipal government reporting on the amount of local and non-local spending by municipal and territorial government employees;
Ensuring that governments set procurement deadlines that support and grow local business capacity;
Providing industry perspectives and priorities to government procurement related programs including the Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy and any other procurement policy that impacts scoring in the evaluation of proposals;
The YCC and WCC each appoint a representative to sit on the Monitor and Review Committee for the Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy; and
The YCC has assembled an ad hoc Working Group that is working with the Procurement Support Centre providing business intelligence and feedback on the implementation of the Vendor Performance Review Program.

Committee Members

Chair: Eric Boye.

Committee Members: Dilan Parker (Duncan’s), Eri Boye (Core Geo), Amos Westropp (Westropp Consulting), Scott Ward (TTC), Denny Kobayashi (MRC), Marcos Castillo (WCC), Terry Sherman (Air Care Yukon).

Monitor and Review Committee Representatives: Denny Kobayashi - MRC Industry Co-Chair (YCC appointed), Mike Pemberton (WCC appointed), Murray Arsenault and Peter Densmore (both appointed by the Yukon Contractors Association).

Vendor Performance Review Working Group: Eri Boye (Core Geo), Murray Arsenault (Arctic Backhoe), Shaun Rudolph (Cobalt Construction); Denis Boyd (Kilrich); Mike Evans (Wildstone Construction); Bruce Fillmore (Johnston Builders), Eric Brohman (Ketza), YCC member TBC

Recent Activity

2023-2024

The primary focus of the Joint Procurement Committee in 2022-2023 was to revitalize the Committee, including recruiting new members, hosting regular meetings, set-up working group meetings for YCC members to attend and to share procurement related concerns with our respective Boards and members.

Thanks in large part to the leadership provided by Chair Eri Boye, the Committee has been hosting regular monthly meetings.

A Working Group was struck to meet with YG Procurement Support Centre officials to work through industry's concerns about the Vendor Performance Review program launched by YG. working groups for YCC members are a work in progress.

The YCC (Denny Kobayashi) and WCC (Mike Pemberton) representatives on the Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy (YFNPP) - Monitor and Review Committee (MRC) have been very active in monthly meetings of the MRC. Denny Kobayashi co-chairs the MRC with Yukon First Nations representative Tosh Southwick.

The committee has been tackling some substantive issues:

Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy (YFNPP) Implementation. There continues to be a lack of awareness, information, research, data, or experience to guide the ongoing implementation of the YFNPP. There have been challenges with some businesses 'gaming the system' seeking competitive advantage by manipulating some of the FN ownership provisions in the YFNPP Bid Value Reduction (BVR) policy. There have been issues with the registration of FN businesses. On a positive note, the YFNPP has stimulated an upsurge in FN businesses, partnerships between FN businesses and organizations with non-FN businesses and renewed focus on FN Workforce Development.
Vendor Performance Review (VPR) YCC members expressed concerns over the current VPR framework and regulations. YG has proposed that vendors/contractors that meet the conditions of the contract and complete the project successfully receive a score of 3 out of 5. Higher scores would be at the discretion of YG’s PM. Vendors/contractors would need to go above and beyond to get a score higher than a 3 out of 5. The requirements of going above and beyond are not defined, but qualitatively assigned by the project’s PM. It has been proposed that that alternative evaluations are conducted including a pass fail (binary - 0 or 1) system, as well as a system similar to the “10-Point Must System” used in boxing. It is not clear what YG’s dispute process is, of how vendors/ contractors go about have a disputed score re-evaluated or resolved. It is also not clear how long VPR scores will stay with a company and how they will be used by YG in the contract award process. There seems to be some possible manipulation of this process including vendors/contractors taking on simple contracts to raise their overall rankings, or companies changing their names which would allow them to start at a minimum score of 3 out of 5.

2022-2023

The committee tackled some substantive issues in 2022-2023:

Approach to Advocacy & Current Priorities

Approach to Advocacy:

Monitoring and providing industry perspective in the development and implementation of the procurement policies of the Yukon Government and City of Whitehorse, and review and provide a summary of any changes to the YCC and WCC Boards, as they arise;
Providing advice, support and recommendations to our respective Boards on strategies, priorities, changes to legislation and procurement policies;
Identifying and recommend ways to remove the barriers to maximizing procurement opportunities for Yukon businesses;
Foster the understanding of the Yukon Government’s and City of Whitehorse’s objectives, priorities, and activities related to Procurement amongst our members;
Advising and assisting in the development of Procurement related YCC and WCC resolutions, policies, programs and initiatives; and
Participate in regular scheduled meeting with the Department of Highways and Public Works/Procurement Support Centre and City of Whitehorse Procurement officials to provide industry intelligence, priorities and concerns related to public sector procurement.

Current Priorities:

Review and seek clarity on the Yukon Government’s Vendor Performance Review Program (VPR)
Continue to monitor and provide industry intelligence and perspective to the implementation ofl the Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy (YFNPP).
Review and take action as required in response to the Bid Value Reduction Review and Recommendations released by the MRC (posted here)
Promote awareness to members of recent developments and changes to procurement programs and legislation.
Meet with the Deputy Minister of Highways and Public Works to bring forward any concerns from members and propose win-win solutions.
Advocate for increased incentives for Yukon businesses bidding on government contracts through "Yukon Content and Knowledge" criteria and "Yukon Business" definition and status.
Advocate for YG RFPs to provide incentives and award points for Yukon Content in all procurements under the thresholds in the Canada Free Trade Agreement.

Resources & Correspondence

The Joint Procurement Committee embraces the following principles:

Community Driven - We work with, and on behalf of, the Community Chambers of Commerce and the Yukon business community. Our perspective is both urban and rural.
Making a Difference - We are focused on territory-wide issues of critical importance to our members and contributory to the success of Yukon businesses.
Connected - We leverage a valuable network of relationships with individuals, groups and organizations to share information and work together.
Autonomous - We are non-partisan, multi-sectoral and maintain the autonomy of our perspective.
Collaborative - the WCC and YCC jointly support the Committee in terms of leadership, membership, development of priorities, setting meeting agendas, and providing secretariat services.

Terms of Reference

2023 Meeting Schedule:

Jan 16
Feb 23 (PSC)
Feb 28
Mar 27
Apr 17
May 9 (VPR/PSC)
Jun 19
July 24
Aug 28
Sept 25
Oct 23
Nov 2 (VPR/PSC)
Nov 27
Dec 18

2024 Meeting Schedule:

Jan 29

Next Meeting: February 2024 TBC

Joint Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

Get Involved!

From highways and tidewater access to air and energy, the Joint Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is made up of members of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, Yukon Chamber of Mines and Yukon Producers’ Group.

The Joint TIC representatives are committed to regularly communicating with all orders of government regarding the current and potential transportation and infrastructure challenges and opportunities facing business in the territory.

Key transportation and infrastructure initiatives include, but are not limited to:

Highway transport improvements for Yukon mineral development, community resupply and tourism;
Tidewater access/marine services for Yukon business supply chains and mineral exports;
Enhanced energy capacity, with a focus on a potential Yukon-BC energy grid intertie; and,
Capacity issues impacting Yukon business, responsible development and tourism.

Committee Members

This is a joint Committee with members from the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, the Yukon Chamber of Mines and the Yukon Producers’ Group.

Chair: Andrew Carne (Cascadia Minerals Ltd.) for the Yukon Chamber of Mines supported by Amanda Leslie (Mosaic Communications) for the Yukon Producers’ Group.

Committee Members: For the Yukon Chamber of Commerce: John Campbell (Ground Reflections), Luke Pantin (Executive Director) and Sean Kinmonth (Chieftain Energy). For the Yukon Chamber of Mines: Brianne Warner (Executive Director), Allan Nixon (BMC Minerals), Craig Hart (Snowline Gold) and Brandon Macdonald (Fireweed Metals). For the Yukon Producers’ Group: Paul West-Sells (Casino Mining Corp.) and Alan Lebedoff (ALX Exploration Services).

Recent Activity

2022-2023

Key activities included, but were not limited to:

Port of Skagway: Ongoing: A major focus throughout 2023, which continues, surrounds the maintenance of Yukon tidewater access at the Port of Skagway (due to the waterfront lease transfer to the Municipality of Skagway (MOS) from White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad in March 2023). Reliable, accessible tidewater access is integral to all Yukon business sectors. Joint Committee work on this file included proactive engagement with the MOS (continued from 2021) and the Yukon Government.
- The Joint TIC also continued to monitor Yukon supply chain alternatives, including Haines and Stewart, however did not actively engage with these communities/facilities focusing on Skagway.

Yukon Resource Gateway Program: Ongoing: Monitoring the progress of this joint federal-territorial program regarding its implementation to support resource road upgrade projects. This program involves an investment of $468.8 million from Canada and Yukon first announced in September 2017.
Energy Capacity: Ongoing: A key focus throughout 2023, which continues, surrounds the territory’s energy capacity limitations; particularly, advocacy efforts for a Yukon-BC electrical gird intertie.
Communication and Correspondence with the Yukon Government: Ongoing: The Joint TIC meets regularly with representatives of Yukon Economic Development and with representatives of Yukon Highways & Public Works upon request. Communication with Yukon Energy, Mines & Resources is provided via Economic Development.

Current Priorities

Resources & Correspondence

The Joint Transportation and Infrastructure Committee works to:

Identify key transportation and infrastructure needs, barriers to transportation and infrastructure improvements and government policies which may require their creation or modification;
Recommend new resolutions to address the Yukon’s transportation and infrastructure needs; and,
Address other transportation and infrastructure-related issues impacting the respective members of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, Yukon Chamber of Mines and Yukon Producers’ Group.

The Joint Transportation Transportation and Infrastructure Committee works with our partners to:

Identify key transportation infrastructure needs, barriers to transportation improvements, and government policies that may need to be created or modified;
Recommend new resolutions to address Yukon transportation needs; and
Address other transportation–related Chamber resolutions.

Terms of Reference

2024 Meeting Schedule:

The Joint TIC meets monthly on the first Wednesday of each month.