Yukon organizations react to what's in the federal budget — and what's not

New investments for the Yukon include money for power and critical minerals. The Yukon's premier says energy is the number one priority for his government. There's also $2.3 billion allocated for Ottawa's critical minerals strategy. Good news for the Yukon mining sector. Energy is definitely the first step to open a lot of doors for the territory. So the fact that there is some very significant federal investment coming to Yukon is good news for not just the mining industry, but all Yukoners. Also in the budget is a plan to end homelessness within a decade. To that end, Ottawa is proposing $11.2 billion over the next four years and $17.8 billion in, quote, future years. The money will be split in a variety of new and existing funds. We see the need here in the Yukon and we have a plan and it's the timing is perfect. We actually know how many people are homeless. We also know how many people need certain kinds of housing and 10 years is a like that is a decade is a long time to be planning to end something that is really You know, housing is a basic human right. The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit is getting a top up. This would see a couple with two children getting up to $56 a month. A single person would get up to half of that. Christina Craig says this is a drop in the bucket. It's also really reliant on the tax and transfer system. And not everybody does their taxes. So there are benefits out there that people are not able to access. And the other piece, you know, on the flip side, it is It's about having enough money in your pocket to pay your bills and eat. There's wider criticism of the budget as well. Corporations are set to get massive tax breaks. The largest one is called the Productivity Mega Deduction, $36 billion over five years. When a corporation is able to increase their prices and there is no mechanism for control on that, it really is almost like that money is going to go into Canadians' pockets and then directly over to the corporations that will benefit from it. The Yukon's Liberal MP is defending the budget. I'm so happy to see that we are not just concentrating on the tomorrow, and of course there are those shorter term... Needs that are being met, but we're also looking at really building out the next 20, 40 years. The budget needs to be passed in the House of Commons, which is adjourned until next week. TJ Deers, CBC News, Whitehorse.