NDP announce Katherine McCallum as Yukon candidate in federal election

The NDP announced on Wednesday that Katherine McCallum is the party's candidate for Yukon MP in the upcoming federal election, set for April 28.

McCallum is new to politics, having worked in the Yukon's theatre and arts community for the past two decades. She previously served on the board of the Yukon Arts Centre and now teaches theatre at Yukon University. 

"I've been sitting on the sidelines politically for a long time and very involved in my own personal beliefs in the political system," McCallum said. "And with everything that's going on in the world and in North America right now, I just felt like it was time to step up."

The NDP is the last of the major federal parties to confirm a Yukon candidate. Liberal Brendan Hanley is seeking re-election, against the Green Party's Gabrielle Dupont, André Fortin of the People's Party of Canada, Conservative Ryan Leef, and Jean-Michel Harvey of the Rhinoceros Party of Canada.

McCallum says that if she were elected, addressing affordable housing and mental health would be some of her priorities.

"We would definitely need some federal funding to go into various housing initiatives that could ease the crunch and make it easier for people to enter the housing market," she said.

McCallum believes that the "mental health crisis" happening across the country is closely tied the housing crisis.

"I think that we need to really look at mental health supports for people so that people can then move forward in their day and be functional and get a roof over their heads. I think that those two things are very closely linked."

Amid the trade war with the U.S. that has put on a strain on Canada's relationship with its southern neighbour, McCallum says "Canadian sovereignty is a really important issue."

"I'm sad that this is happening…it does feel like a bit of a betrayal," McCallum said. She said she does not yet know exactly how she would address the issue.

With election day just over a month away, McCallum says she's excited to get out and speak to Yukoners. 

"That's one of the reasons I want to do this…we live in a small city in a small territory with not a huge population. It can't be that hard to listen to each other and actually just move forward in a positive way."

In the last federal election, the party's candidate Lisa Vollans-Leduc finished third in Yukon with 22.4 per cent of the vote.

The last time Yukon elected an NDP member of Parliament was in the 1990s. Louise Hardy held the seat from 1997 to 2000, succeeding Audrey McLaughlin, who was MP from 1987 to 1997 and was also the federal NDP leader for some of that period.