Yukon's 2 leading political parties still rely heavily on secret, legal revenue source
Even in a non-election year, the Yukon's two leading political parties are still awash in opaque "other" revenue.
Under the territory's political financing rules, other revenue is money raised through raffles, banquets, cash bars and, "income from investments and other sources." The source of such revenue doesn't have to be publicly disclosed (neither do individual contributions under $250).
The governing Liberals raised nearly $73,000 in other revenue, according to Elections Yukon's 2022 party financing report. That's nearly three-quarters of all money raised by the party last year.
Meanwhile, the Yukon Party took in more than $45,000 other revenue, roughly a third of their total haul in 2022.
That didn't stop Yukon Party MLA Brad Cathers earlier this spring from blasting the Liberals for their reliance on other revenue.
"We're not going to cast aspersions with the source or sources of it," Cathers told reporters at the time. "But it simply is the issue of transparency about financing."
Premier Ranj Pillai, in turn, accused the Yukon Party of hypocrisy, arguing they had plenty of chances to change the rules when they were in power between 2002 and 2016.
"The Yukon Party had 14 years in office and over that period of time, they didn't do anything on fundraising. They didn't touch it. Again, they had no issues with any of these processes in place," Pillai said.
Neither the NDP, nor the Yukon Freedom Party reported other revenue last year. The NDP says it supports a ban on donations from unions, corporations and sources outside the Yukon.
Overall, the party fundraising machines kept on grinding in 2022, though they were notably less busy than the election year of 2021.
The Yukon Party were the top fundraisers, bringing in almost $125,000. The Liberals raised nearly $100,000 and the NDP nearly $59,000, all of which came from individual contributions.The Yukon Freedom Party raised around $1,000.
Despite their opposition to outside donations, the NDP reported $890 from the rest of Canada. The Yukon Party brought in more than $13,000 from such donors, while the Liberals reported $1,030.