Peel demo to mark legislature closing

Life at the Yukon legislature will end Thursday much as it began in late October.

Dozens of people are expected to crowd into the public gallery, quietly peering down on the final performance of the year by the Yukon’s 19 MLAs.

The gaudy chamber makes the perfect backdrop for what’s often mistaken as Theatre of the Absurd.

The eight MLAs on the one side (the opposition) ask questions of the 10 MLAs on the other (the government) through the speaker, who is the guy perched on the throne in the middle. The government MLAs usually respond by first berating the questioner, then discrediting the question and finally filling the allotted "answer" time with meaningless blather.

It can be entertaining or depressing, depending on the depth of your faith in democracy.

The wooden balcony seats come cheap, as in no admission, but they don’t come easy.  Just ask a group of high school students and their parents who received a written dressing down from the speaker after a recent visit.

The message to the peanuts in the gallery is simple: sit down and shut up. No cat calls. No signs. Even flashing the front of your Protect: Democracy. The Plan. The Peel t-shirt may be frowned upon by the powers that be.

That would distract the MLAs as they pass notes and knowing nods, all the while keeping one ear to the verbal sparring on a wide range of topics from the Peel to fracking to stripping the Kaska of their oil and gas veto.

The Dec. 13 closing day “fill the gallery” demonstration begins at 12:30 in the foyer of the Main Government Building on Second Avenue in downtown Whitehorse.

When the doors to the legislative assembly swing open for business at 12:45 p.m., it will move into the public gallery to watch Question Period when it begins at 1 p.m.

This will be the fourth such demonstration at the legislature this year.

The first two were in response to the government’s February announcement that it was punting the final recommended Peel plan and crafting its own.

When it released said "plan" and kicked off the last round of public consultations in late October, it drew political heat anew.

By the time the fun and games wrap up for good late Thursday afternoon, there’s not likely to be many happy holiday hugs and kind wishes exchanged between the two sides.

When they return to the legislature in the spring, consultations on the Peel should be all but completed.

The spotlight will shifted to the hundreds of newly-released comments the government is now receiving from the public on the Peel, but withholding until late February or March.

And the Peel land use planning debacle will slowly wending its way to the nearest courthouse.