oct-2017

194 195 WHITEHORSE, YUKON TERRITORY Traditionally,Whitehorse has been a boom/ bust town at the whim of mining in the Yukon. Today, the industry is doing well and continues to provide a significant portion of the overall GDP in the territory. Although the actual mining work occurs well outside the city limits,Whitehorse is the major hub for business activity related to the industry, with airport and highway access, and proximity to Skagway, Alaska, a major tourist port, only 180km away. While Canada was in the throes of an economic recession from 2007 to 2009,Whitehorse had a bit of a boom, including increased housing de- mand. “We studied the impact after the mining cycle receded, and we didn’t have nearly the impact as we’ve had historically with regards to migration out of the city and territory. The in- creased demand did correspond with a low sup- ply of housing lots, however, which did result in significant increases to housing prices.” These days,Whitehorse is experiencing an in- crease in entrepreneurial activity. Gau notes, “We have 3100 business licenses issued for a popula- tion of around 26,000.We have four levels of gov- ernment centered here, so we’re a government town with the public sector making up about 40 percent of the economy. This brings great stabili- ty and good wages. Business, especially tourism is growing, in both the winter and summer, and the private sector is a bigger proportion of our econ- omy.We’re less dependent on mineral exploration and the spinoffs from that in construction and min- ing, and more so on being one of the centers in the north that has natural resources, but also has a lot of other great things going on.” Whitehorse is unique in having two local, First Nations governments that own land within the city. The City has spent a great deal of effort and time working with them and fostering part- nerships. Gau says, “That’s coming along nicely, and we see it being a key component for the fu- ture of the Yukon and our community. Yukon First Nations own significant lands and resources that will come into the market and shape land supply and business activity in the area.” Two development projects currently in the works in Whitehorse are going to substantial- ly influence the city landscape and its operating efficiency. The first is a new City operations building; one phase of a con- solidation project of which City Council has only approved the operations compo- nent. Essentially, it’s an example of a munici- pality trying to become more efficient from both an energy and operational perspective. The proj- ect is consolidating several City properties and business activities/operations, largely focused on equipment and related staff. Transit is being grouped in with operations, transportation, and engineering, in order to have people and equip- ment all in one space instead of all over town.