Finance Minister Sandy Silver after tabling the $2.36 billion budget in the Legislative Assembly. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – The Yukon Government forecasts a surplus of $81.96 million as part of the 2025-26 budget that was introduced in the Legislature yesterday but also predicts a 0.3 percent GDP decline in the wake of the Eagle Gold Mine failure.
The total value of the budget is $2.36 billion, including nearly $478 million in capital spending.
Key highlights include $57.6 million for new and ongoing housing projects and $75 million for runway upgrades at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.
There’s also $118 million in advances to the court-appointed receiver for Victoria Gold to address the Eagle Gold Mine failure and a $75 million contingency fund to partly ease economic uncertainty around U.S. trade.
With an election set for this year, Finance Minister Sandy Silver dismissed the idea that the spending plan is a pre-election pitch to voters.
“This is not a year before an election, flashy, promising the sky and the moon budget,” said Silver. “It is a balanced, fiscally responsible effort to make sure that we can chew bubble gum and walk at the same time.”
Yukon Party says its reckless spending
Opposition Leader Currie Dixon slammed the budget, calling it reckless and unsustainable. He pointed to the government’s rising debt, which is projected to hit $774 million by 2025–26—four times higher than in 2016.
“I was blown away by the level of debt that’s being incurred by this budget,” said Dixon. “I knew that we were in a bad fiscal position. I knew that we were facing difficult times, but I had no idea it was this bad.”
Dixon warned that growing debt levels could burden future generations, particularly in an era of global economic instability. Silver has maintained that Yukon remains capable of managing and repaying its debts.
NDP calls budget “dull” and “dreary”
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White criticized the budget as uninspired and ineffective, arguing that it fails to deliver real solutions to systemic issues.
“I didn’t really see opportunities and I didn’t see solutions,” said White. “I heard a lot of, money, money, money, but not how money is going to address the problem, or how it’s going to bring something new.”
Despite the budget for the Department of Health and Social Services increasing by $88 million, White argues the budget does little to address doctor recruitment and surgical infrastructure, both long-standing challenges in the territory.
Budgets are confidence motions and if the Yukon NDP pulls support for the budget an election will be called before the set date of November 3rd.
