2025 Federal Election Questionnaire

This election, Canadians will head to the polls with many different priorities for the next four years. Most Yukoners believe that the environment and climate change should be one of those priorities for the federal government.

We asked each candidate four questions to highlight their vision around conservation and climate change.

In the Yukon riding, candidates for Member of Parliament are Dr. Brendan Hanley (Liberal Party), Ryan Leef (Conservative Party), Katherine McCallum (New Democratic Party), and Gabrielle Dupont (Green Party). The candidate with the most votes in the riding will become Yukon’s MP. The party that wins the most ridings across Canada (out of 343 total) will form the next federal government.

You can read each candidate’s answers below.

1. Accelerating domestic exploration and mining has been touted as a potential solution to American attacks on Canada’s economy and sovereignty. However, Yukoners are bearing the environmental impacts and clean-up costs of mines that were approved post-devolution, like Wolverine and Eagle Gold. What federal actions would you support so the territory isn’t saddled with the costs of future failed mines?

Brendan Hanley - Liberal Party of Canada

The Yukon is rich in the critical minerals needed for the clean energy transition – but with opportunity comes responsibility. Yukoners have seen the impacts of failed projects in our territory. This is why I have worked with federal colleagues to push for a review and strengthening of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Act (YESAA). We need a collaborative approach to mine approval, oversights, and reclamation that ensures companies, not communities, bear the costs.
Ryan Leef - Conservative Party of Canada

We support the Yukon Environmental Socio-Economic Assessment Board—a made-in-Yukon process that ensures project assessments respect local authority. Yukon and Yukon First Nations can benefit from resource development while protecting the Territory’s pristine wilderness. We’re committed to improving development that creates jobs and growth, while empowering Yukoners to pursue economic opportunity and safeguard their environmental heritage.
Katherine McCallum - New Democratic Party of Canada

The federal government has an important role to play in regulating water and fish habitat and that must be maintained and strengthened. Other parties are promising fast tracking of projects which is the opposite of what we need. We need sustained federal support for Indigenous-led monitoring and decision-making so Yukon communities aren’t left holding the bill when mines walk away. The remediation cost of every failed mine is stolen from the health and education budget of the Yukon government.
Gabrielle Dupont - Green Party of Canada

As a Yukon business owner impacted by the Eagle mine disaster, this issue resonates strongly with me. Such devastating environmental degradation shows that we can’t hold economic considerations above environmental ones.

The extraction of minerals is crucial for a green economy. Still, we must hold polluters accountable. The Green Party is committed to co-developing federal legislation with First Nations to ensure strong environmental protection and rehabilitation.

2. Canada has committed to protecting 30% of lands and waters by 2030. In the Yukon, achieving this goal depends on supporting land use planning and initiatives like Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. Do you support these conservation targets and, if so, how would you support reaching them?

Brendan Hanley - Liberal Party of Canada

I strongly support Canada’s target to protect lands and waters by 2030. The Yukon’s inclusion and cooperation is essential in reaching this goal – and this means supporting land use planning and Indigenous-led conservation. Recent progress includes a new Inuvialuit-led conservation area on the Eastern Yukon North Slope, the feasibility study for a national park in the Teetł’it Gwinjik (Peel Watershed), and an MOU with RRDC exploring an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area. These efforts are vital for future generations, and we must continue.
Ryan Leef - Conservative Party of Canada

In the Yukon, 21.1% of land—over 101,000 km²—is protected through parks, wildlife areas, and special zones. These protections arise from First Nations and Inuvialuit Final Agreements and require consultation with Yukon First Nations. Under devolution, land protections must be respected. We will partner with the Yukon Government and First Nations on future protections, ensuring the Yukon continues to lead in conservation while balancing economic opportunities on protected and undesignated lands.
Katherine McCallum - New Democratic Party of Canada

Yes — protecting 30% by 2030 is essential, and the path forward must centre Indigenous rights and leadership. The federal government must invest in land use planning and provide long-term funding for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. That includes supporting Guardian programs, respecting modern treaties, and working directly with Yukon First Nations to protect land, water, and wildlife for future generations.

The NDP has committed to introducing legislation that would require at least 30% protection of lands and waters by 2030.
Gabrielle Dupont - Green Party of Canada

At the Green Party we are not only committed to these conservation targets, we want to expand them to 50% of lands and waters by 2050, through protected areas, habitat restoration and conservation agreements with provinces, territories and First Nations.
We will develop a National Water Strategy to ensure long-term protection of freshwater resources, prioritize the protection of carbon-rich ecosystems like wetlands and boreal forests, and expand First Nation co-management of national parks and conservation lands.

2025 Federal Election Question - climate change

3. What are concrete policies that you would support to ensure that Canada lives up to its commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change?

Brendan Hanley - Liberal Party of Canada

To meet Canada’s climate goals, we are implementing key policies like strengthening the Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS) to ensure large emitters pay their fair share. We are also continuing the work on the national emissions cap. We are leading by example – phasing out fossil fuels in federal buildings by 2023. These actions, alongside Indigenous-led conservation and clean tech investments, all help move us toward net-zero.
Ryan Leef - Conservative Party of Canada

We believe in investing in technology to cut emissions and recognize that climate change is a global issue needing global solutions. We’ll make clean tech affordable, set corporate emission standards with penalties funding a green emissions fund, and reduce reliance on foreign energy by supporting Canadian energy and lithium. By fast-tracking projects like hydro, tidal, and carbon capture, we’ll make Canada—and the Yukon—leaders in clean, ethically sourced energy and innovation.
Katherine McCallum - New Democratic Party of Canada

Canada must meet its climate targets by capping oil and gas emissions, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and enforcing binding national climate laws. I support federal investment in Indigenous-led climate planning, clean energy, and land stewardship programs. We must scale up conservation as a climate solution — protecting forests, wetlands, and permafrost through Indigenous protected areas, land use planning, and the 30 by 30 goal.

We would work to: double public transit ridership, invest heavily in free housing retrofits for low-income Canadians and pass an Environmental Bill of Rights.
Gabrielle Dupont - Green Party of Canada

As the Green Party candidate in the Yukon, fighting climate change is one of my highest priorities. We can start by completing our clean energy transition right here in our Territory, supporting northern communities to transition away from diesel by expanding access to community-owned renewable microgrids.

At the national level, we will fund renewable energy installations in homes, businesses and communities, and promote zero-carbon, user-fee-free public ground transportation across Canada by 2040. We will finance these measures by ending fossil fuel subsidies and taxing big emitters.

2025 Federal Election Question - caribou

4. The Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the birthplace of the Porcupine caribou herd and a Sacred Land to the Gwich’in. Despite this, the U.S. Government is pushing for oil drilling on these lands. Where do you stand on protecting the Arctic Refuge?

Brendan Hanley - Liberal Party of Canada

I am firmly opposed to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The Coastal Plan is the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou herd and is sacred to the Gwich’in people, who rely on the herd for culture, food and identity. Protecting this land is not only an environmental issue – it’s about upholding Indigenous rights. I will continue to oppose U.S. efforts to drill in the refuge and work across borders to push for the permanent protection of this vital ecosystem.
Ryan Leef - Conservative Party of Canada

The Government of Canada protects nearly 13,000 km² of the Porcupine Caribou Herd’s range—one of the last large migratory herds on Earth. I stand with the Gwich’in Peoples in protecting this herd, vital to Indigenous communities in Yukon, NWT, and Alaska. As a former Conservation Officer and hunter, I’ve worked to preserve the region, wildlife, and ecosystem. Through stories shared by hunters and elders, it’s clear that the caribou are an integral part of the people and deserve our full support.
Katherine McCallum - New Democratic Party of Canada

I stand with the Gwich’in in defending the Arctic Refuge from oil drilling. This land is sacred, ecologically vital, and critical to the survival of the Porcupine caribou herd upon which the Gwich’in rely for their wellbeing. Canada must do more than speak out — we need diplomatic pressure, cross-border cooperation, and support for Indigenous leadership to protect it. No amount of oil is worth the destruction of a way of life.
Gabrielle Dupont - Green Party of Canada

The Green Party strongly opposes oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We will continue to advocate in parliament and through diplomatic engagement for full protection of the Refuge.
We propose the creation of an internationally recognized Arctic Protected Zone, similar to the Antarctic protection area, where no mineral resource exploration is permitted by any country.

We support the ban of industrial development in key wildlife corridors to ensure habitat continuity for species at risk and migratory wildlife.

Want to read more? CPAWS National posed environmental questions to each party leader.

Party Leader Responses