No more Peel for Cathers' playlist

After nearly two years of stick-handling the thorny Peel watershed issue, Yukon cabinet minister Brad Cathers has been pulled from the Energy, Mines and Resources post.

Brad Cathers

He's been sent to Community Services while Scott Kent moves from education to take Cathers' place.

The change was part of a larger cabinet shuffle announced Monday.

Cathers has taken a lot of heat trying to defend his government's decision to dump the land use plan produced by the Peel Watershed Planning Commission.

His department's replacement plan was roundly criticized by First Nations, conservation and tourism groups, and most of the public who participated in the consultations.

Although final talks between the government and First Nations have now gone behind closed doors, it looks likely the whole controversy is headed straight to court.

This change at the top gives the Yukon government a chance to alter its position without losing too much face.

Kent has never been a fan of protecting the Peel –- even when his then Liberal Party supported it - but he is well-versed on the issue.

He was the executive director of the Yukon Chamber of Mines when the Peel planning controversy moved to centre stage. He's also been the minister of that department before, from 2000 to 2002 when the Liberals were in power.

The other two ministers on Premier Darrell Pasloski's Peel team remain the same. Currie Dixon stays on as both minister of the environment and economic development.  Mike Nixon keeps tourism and justice.

Although many expected Vuntut Gwitchin MLA Darius Elias would get a cabinet post as a reward for joining the Yukon Party in early July, that didn't happen.

When he crossed the floor, he told the media the Peel file caused him some concern and that he'd be keeping an eye on it.

For the time being, he'll be doing that from the backbench.

Elias is vice-chair of the legislature's newly-formed fracking committee. That could be prove to be more challenging than he first expected since his First Nation just passed a motion to keep its traditional territory frack-free. It encompasses most of the northern Yukon along with parts of the Peel watershed.