3 - A tipping point for the Yukon's medical system? Also, Vince Fedoroff, a Mayor-Premier conflict, the future of the economy, and more

Yukon Star Podcast

Ben chats with editor Jim Butler and photographer Vince Fedoroff about this week's issue of the Yukon Star, including Vince's background with the Yukon Star and Whitehorse Star before it, and stories about health care, the Victoria Gold disaster, a brewing but confusing conflict between the Mayor of Whitehorse and Premier of the Yukon, and City of Whitehorse, Ken Coates’ article about the future of our economy and its dependence on the public sector, opioid-related deaths in decline, and—this just in—how many cat rescues the fire department responds to per year.

If you’ve got feedback on the show or a question you’d like Ben to ask, email [e-mail].

Show Notes

1:45 - How did Kai get so many articles in the print edition this week?

2:10 - Kai’s background in graphic design and the news in Yellowknife

4:10 - What’s it like to be at a new newspaper?

4:45 - What’s in today’s Discovery Day long weekend edition of the paper?

5:45 - Victoria Gold headed into receivership

6:10 - The Yukon’s uncertain economy

7:30 - The upcoming municipal election

9:10 - The appeal of mayoral candidate Mellisa Murray’s immigrant background

9:45 - Kirk Cameron’s extensive experience

11:20 - What’s special about this election? Could all of Council be wiped out?

12:45 - Why is it important to have Councillors with experience in the role?

13:40 - Why are so many politicians not running again?

14:30 - What are the issues in the upcoming Whitehorse municipal election?

16:00 - Whitehorse City Council’s new civility policy

18:15 - What was the impetus for Council’s policy?

21:00 - Why is chinook salmon diminishing in Canada?

23:30 - The latest on Victoria Gold

24:20 - The nuanced debate between the Yukon Conservation Society and the Yukon Chamber of Mines

26:00 - Sale of City property for $1?

Show Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and has not yet been edited. It has been posted here for your convenience. Please forgive any errors.

Ben Charland 00:00

This is the Yukon Star Podcast. I'm your host, Ben Charland. Today is Friday, August 23rd, 2024. Now we've got a lot of stories that we're going to dig into and peel the headlines back for, but before we do, we're talking with Vince Fedoroff, photographer for the Yukon Star.

Ben Charland 00:25

We asked him about his career, how he got his start back at the White Horse Star decades ago, and how photography has changed in that time or stayed the same. We've also got key stories that I'm talking about with Vince and Jim Butler, the editor of the Star, such as the Yukon Medical Association's president, Dr.

Ben Charland 00:44

Komet, who wrote a letter to the Star about the healthcare situation, following from another letter by Dr. David Story. Now, these two letters have stirred up a really interesting and important conversation about healthcare in the territory today.

Ben Charland 00:58

We've got a conflict brewing between the Yukon government and the city of White Horse, even though the reason for this is hard to understand if there is any. We've got the ongoing Eagle Mine disaster.

Ben Charland 01:07

The board has resigned, the CEO has been fired. Ken Coates has an article about the future of our economy and our dependence on the public sector and how that might be dangerous in the years ahead. And we've also got a piece about how opioid deaths are in decline, but still tragic.

Ben Charland 01:23

Now, before we dig into all of that, I just wanted to mention that by virtue of the time that we have for this podcast, we're necessarily going to miss some things that are in the paper, a 20 page paper that comes every week.

Ben Charland 01:35

There's a lot of content in there and there's some articles that we just don't have time to talk about. There's also some articles that we only give a passing reference to. For example, Ivan Coyote's column about the no pop sandwich shop back in White Horse in the 1980s and their experience living here at that time.

Ben Charland 01:53

It's a very powerful, poignant and important piece of writing that I think all of us would benefit from. We've also got the conflict between the Yukon government and the city, but that belies what the issue is really about, and that's downtown safety.

Ben Charland 02:07

Finally, Ken Coates' article is paired with a column from the Toronto Star by David Olive. Indigenous investment is a huge part of our territory's economy. And one thing that Ken Coates talks about in his article is the importance of indigenous development corporations to the Yukon, because when the going gets tough, they're not going anywhere.

Ben Charland 02:27

As usual, if you like this episode or any episode, please spread the word about the podcast. And if you can take a moment on Apple podcasts or Spotify, please leave us a review. And now here's my conversation with Jim and Vince.

Ben Charland 02:43

Jim Butler, welcome back.

Jim Butler 02:46

Good to be here again.

Ben Charland 02:47

Vince Fedoroff, welcome to the first time on the podcast. Thank you. Vince, I'm really excited to chat with you. Can you tell us a little bit about your background as a photographer and photojournalist for the Yukon Star?

Vince Fedoroff 02:59

Well, I came there fully prepared.

Ben Charland 03:03

So how long did you work at the White Horse Star for?

Vince Fedoroff 03:05

Probably around 30, 35 years. Start in the press room, sweeping floors.

Ben Charland 03:11

You started sweeping floors? Yes. Did you did you have an early interest in photography or how did that come about?

Vince Fedoroff 03:17

Somewhat I guess. My grandfather was a photographer. My mother always had a camera around so there was an interest there but never really followed or conscious or anything.

Ben Charland 03:31

And so what happened? Did someone tap you on the shoulder and said, do you mind taking photos for this story that we've got on Thursday or what happened?

Vince Fedoroff 03:38

Oh, no, no, I worked for ages in the press room at the White Horse Star. Ended up being the printer of the White Horse Star and, uh, and somebody came along who was a printer, wanted a job and they says, Hey, do you want this job?

Vince Fedoroff 03:52

It's in a dark room. And I said, sure.

Ben Charland 03:54

And so then how did that evolve to you? I mean, from my understanding, you are out and about all the time. There's even a camera on this table as we speak, like you're about to take a photo of Gemini or something, something's going to happen and you're going to catch it in action.

Ben Charland 04:07

At what point was that your main thing?

Vince Fedoroff 04:11

It wasn't by choice. It was accidental, I guess you could say. I was doing the film for the reporters. I was working in the darkroom. And as computers came into use more and more, less and less darkroom work was necessary.

Vince Fedoroff 04:31

Old newspapers needed lots of darkroom work. You didn't take your logos and to make them bigger, you had to put them in a camera. Or to make them smaller, you had to put them in a camera. You had to shoot big negatives to put on the press to print the newspaper.

Vince Fedoroff 04:47

As more and more computer usage came in, darkroom time went down, and they ended up just making me a photographer and darkroom technician. So it just sort of evolved.

Ben Charland 05:03

So as the digital era, photography sort of liberated you to be out and about a little bit more than you would have been before.

Vince Fedoroff 05:10

Well, not in my job, because my job isn't just photography. My job involves handling all the photos that come in for local use. Right. So I handled Dan Davidson from Dawson city. I handled Joe blow down this G to send in a picture.

Vince Fedoroff 05:26

I handle everything that comes in for editorial use local.

Ben Charland 05:33

So this is something, Jim, that you mentioned in episode one about the Yukon star taking over, as it will, from the White Horse star, but starting from scratch, meaning none of the archives were available to you, and none of the old photo archives.

Ben Charland 05:46

So can I just ask, for the decades that you are with the White Horse star events, is that material no longer available to you? And you have to start from scratch and building a sort of a photo archive at the Yukon star?

Vince Fedoroff 06:00

Well, yeah, I have my personal archives from the Star, um, digital, um, anything. Film, of course, is up at the archives. Now they, they sent all the films to the archives, but yeah, we're building a database now for, and it's been very challenging.

Vince Fedoroff 06:17

We need a picture. Well, so -and -so said something. Well, we don't have this picture. We either got to go get it or find something to use for a picture. It's definitely challenging.

Ben Charland 06:27

Vince, there's a lot of really excellent photos in this edition. And the new paper of the Yukon Star is so colorful. Like, it really hits every single edition so far. And this is now, what is it, edition volume one, number 13.

Ben Charland 06:42

So this is the 13th printed edition of this paper. And every single time it pops. When I'm walking by at Independent, I can see it. And even though I have a copy, I want to buy one more for $3 just because it's so colorful.

Ben Charland 06:55

Is there a shoot that you did for this particular edition out today that you enjoyed shooting the most? I mean, there's Hadestown, there's a lot of sports stuff. There's this great picture of baseball at the front.

Ben Charland 07:06

Is there one picture or one suite of photos that you enjoyed taking the most in this edition?

Vince Fedoroff 07:12

Well I certainly always enjoy theatre, dance, all the cultural stuff is fun, it's a lot of fun to do. I couldn't isolate one thing, but yeah, the Hades shoot was Hades Town Teen Edition was quite fun, I always enjoy those though.

Ben Charland 07:30

Is it tricky taking photos of the theater? I mean, you're in the theater, obviously it's all dark, but the actors are moving around, there's a lot of action going on. How do you know to get just the right shot to capture the motion and the activity that takes place in the theater?

Vince Fedoroff 07:45

Well, you focus on one thing, what you want to do at the moment. All right. Do you want to do a tight shot of people doing stuff? Do you want to do a wide shot of the scene? You do a variety of stuff and you mix it up.

Vince Fedoroff 07:59

Sometimes dance, particularly if it's a dance thing, you try to focus on the main dancer. I don't know. I just been doing it for years. I don't know what I do. I just happens. You know, it's instinct.

Vince Fedoroff 08:11

There is a lot of that involved. Yeah.

Ben Charland 08:14

It seems that at some level in a career and a vocation, instinct happens from experience, not precursor to experience, but as a result of your experience, you no longer have to think about it. You just know that this is the right balance, and color, and shadow of this shot, and it's clear obviously in your photography for the start today.

Ben Charland 08:35

So no, Vince, it's really, really solid work. So on behalf of all of us who read the paper, thank you.

Jim Butler 08:41

Thank you, and I I thank you to Vince and you know hearing your history again reminds me of the first day I met you at the White Horse Star 44 years ago, that's when we started working together and I said I shook hands with Vince and I said, you know, mr.

Jim Butler 08:56

Federer off I don't like dark rooms and Vince said oh why not and I said Because my uncle died in the dark room. He died of exposure and it wasn't a pretty picture Just believe me and started expressing sympathy and I felt so badly about that I confessed the whole thing was a joke a bad one on my part

Ben Charland 09:18

How long after, though?

Jim Butler 09:20

within the same handshake within the same one minute period

Ben Charland 09:23

I was imagining like a week went by and you were just feeling so awful, but you couldn't bring yourself to town

Jim Butler 09:29

But this is a 44 year association, Vince and myself, and it's still going strong, albeit with a new instrument, the Yukon Star.

Ben Charland 09:37

Absolutely. Um, you know, Jim, you just brought up your wonderful memory and you have a memory of the first time, not only that you met, but the first things you said and the things you said just two seconds later in the same handshake, you remember the handshake.

Ben Charland 09:49

And so I want to call on that memory again today and ask you what's going on in today's issue of the Yukon star.

Jim Butler 09:57

Today's edition, well, I hate to sound like a broken record, especially since they're coming back in vogue, but Victoria Gold, once again, Ben, the latest is the entire board has resigned and the president and CEO, John McConnell, was essentially fired during a meeting over the Discovery Day weekend.

Jim Butler 10:19

And we continue to have great fears and apprehensions about the long -term cumulative economic or economic and environmental effects of this disaster. So that's one of the highlights in today's paper.

Jim Butler 10:33

Other stuff, well, civic issues. There's been this bizarre conversation between Mayor Laura Cabot and Premier Polai about whether the city is really being a proper partner in fighting downtown street crime and increasing crime safety.

Jim Butler 10:49

The Premier addressed the General Assembly of the Council of Yukon First Nations on July 30th and said, we need the city at the table to help us with this challenge. And the mayor was kind of non -plus and she wrote a letter saying, well, what do you mean?

Jim Butler 11:03

We've been partners, we've been participating in various meetings, et cetera.

Ben Charland 11:07

I just can I just stop you there Jim because I want to I want to dig into that a little bit further. I found this really surprising. The the Premier actually stated specifically in that address that the Yukon government is missing a valuable partner in the city of Whitehorse like and then goes on to say in their absence we're doing our best like this was a really this wasn't just a shot over the bow.

Ben Charland 11:30

This was a broadside and I'm just wondering why. I mean the mayor came back with a letter saying that I'm just shocked like where is this coming from and I think the rest of us who are reading this are also wondering where is this coming from.

Jim Butler 11:45

Yeah, like you just said, you were surprised. I was kind of surprised, too, because that is not my recollection of events over the last couple of years. There have been many public meetings and private meetings and joint news conferences involving the city and the government and initiatives announced involving both governments, so I was kind of nonplussed at the Premier's remarks on that particular subject myself.

Ben Charland 12:09

Yeah, and I was just reading this wondering, why would they do that? And my first thought was, well, is it a way to distract from your own incapacity to deliver on this issue? So you're just trying to put it on someone else.

Ben Charland 12:19

But then obviously the mayor is going to respond to that. And I just thought, you know, this was a prepared address. This wasn't impromptu. He wasn't just scrambling for something to say. This was prepared remarks.

Ben Charland 12:31

Someone had written this for him probably. He had reviewed it and then he spoke the words. And I'm thinking, what is the benefit to Ranj Palai right now to stir up a conflict? And with the city of Whitehorse, not specifically with the mayor, although that's obviously who's going to stand up and say something, but from your years of experience in the political life of the Yukon, what would be the benefit here to the premier?

Ben Charland 12:55

Is it just to distract?

Jim Butler 12:57

No, I really can't see any benefit that this strategy would bring the Yukon government. Because you'll remember that both the Premier and his various community services ministers have always accentuated the fact that we have a smooth relationship with the city of Whitehorse, regular face -to -face meetings as the mayor, etc.

Jim Butler 13:18

That all sounds good and two governments reasonably working together. And then you get this sudden shot out of the dark that just seems to confound most observers from the people I've spoken to.

Ben Charland 13:29

Yeah. No, it was bizarre. And, you know, I'm glad that there's an article about it, because otherwise this might just seem like some kind of internecine conflict between governments that no one seems to care about.

Ben Charland 13:40

But these two governments need to work well together in order for us, the rest of us to benefit, I think. Speaking of municipal issues, we have a report that the rate of illicit drug deaths is dropping, which is a good thing.

Ben Charland 13:54

But we also have in the same issue of the paper, the walk for healing that was done, I think, from Mayo all the way down to Watson Lake, that finished, I think, in Whitehorse just recently. And this was, you know, it's a powerful, well, a powerful, not contradiction, but juxtaposition between the deaths dropping, but also us needing to heal from this.

Ben Charland 14:17

And they're not, no, they're not absent. We still have had six deaths from opioid use this year alone. And that's, that's half of what it was at this point in 2023. But, you know, we still have months left to go.

Ben Charland 14:30

And every death obviously is a tragedy. Where are things at with, with this crisis? I mean, specifically in the Yukon, I remember a year or two ago, per capita, the Yukon was the worst jurisdiction in Canada for opioid death.

Jim Butler 14:46

Yeah, this is one of those weird ones where you can be accurate and provide in describing it as a good news story and a bad news story. Like you just said, we've lost six citizens, but the rate is far less than it was in 2023, when we lost 23 people for that whole year.

Jim Butler 15:05

And the fear is now, as you just enunciated, let's not have a flurry of deaths the second half of this year, as we head into the fall and the cooler weather and make this semi good news story a bad news story.

Jim Butler 15:19

In terms of where things stand now, while the stats speak for themselves, perhaps some of the various programs and initiatives and, you know, facilities that the government has brought into vogue in the last couple of years are making a difference.

Jim Butler 15:34

We'll see at the end of the year what the data tell us.

Ben Charland 15:37

I just want to really quickly mention that right next to this article about the rate of drug deaths dropping is cat rescue pictures, which I'm told Vince is a bit of a specialty for you. So could you tell me more about cat rescuing in Whitehorse?

Vince Fedoroff 15:54

Well, they call the fire department when the cat gets rescued. I'm sort of connected to the fire department. So I always try to chase those ones, because it's a really good news story. And it's front and centering our fire personnel who usually encounter horrible situations.

Vince Fedoroff 16:16

So it's fun to give them some PR on something that's really good. And they feel good about doing it. I mean, I'm sure they feel good about rescuing people in houses. But I mean, it's certainly a different thing.

Vince Fedoroff 16:27

But this kind of thing is kind of fun, you know.

Ben Charland 16:31

And it's popular, I understand, too.

Vince Fedoroff 16:33

They get calls. I mean they got a ladder truck. They couldn't use it on this particular instance, but they've done it before.

Ben Charland 16:44

Vince, next time you get a call about a cat rescue, if you can please call me, I'll grab my three -year -old son out of daycare and we will meet you there because, of course, he's three and he's obsessed with firefighters and fire trucks and I don't know what he thinks about cats.

Ben Charland 16:58

Not really sure, but I think he'd love to see one rescued. So let me know, and maybe we'll get him in the photo too, but these are really nice, obviously, photos.

Jim Butler 17:06

You may call it the cat's meow of a presentation.

Ben Charland 17:08

Oh god. Jim, there's a purpose for you being here every single week and I think we just did upon it yet again. How often do we get these, do you say? Like once a month or what's the frequency?

Vince Fedoroff 17:21

Oh, I haven't heard of a cat rescue. Well, maybe a few months. No, not once a month. No, it's not a real frequent thing, but it does happen. And also, sometimes they may not call the fire department.

Vince Fedoroff 17:34

I know there's a tree cutting guy that said he gets so many calls for cat rescues that he's had to get a cat box. Then he packs it with him in his truck.

Ben Charland 17:49

It's really funny because I honestly didn't think that that happened anymore or ever I thought that the whole Firefighters rescuing a cat from the tree was just urban legend or yeah, but it's it's a real thing

Vince Fedoroff 18:02

it does happen yeah maybe more than some suspect but um well maybe i don't know three to six a year um maybe but you know i'm not tuned into all of them so i could be off

Ben Charland 18:18

So Jim, we need to commission a study on how many cat rescues there are per year. It needs to be a major feature just for Vince and I for the podcast.

Jim Butler 18:28

within the whisker of the truth on that one, Ben.

Ben Charland 18:30

Oh, no, okay. I started it. I asked for it. I'm like walking knee -deep in it now Jim. Let's pivot to health care. Shall we? This is this is a story that's been going on for a while now ever since doctors Well, it's been going on for a long time before this but doctor stories letter to the Yukon star And we talked about this obviously on the podcast and it was a really poignant Powerful letter about the crisis of the health care system and now we have another letter From the president of the Yukon Medical Association and you've got an editorial as well Jim about this Are we at a tipping point where things might actually change now?

Ben Charland 19:04

I've seen that there has been a response to The president's letter from the Yukon government essentially saying we're aware of these concerns But are we gonna see change now or is this is it the hope of the government and maybe the three political parties as well?

Ben Charland 19:20

That this will just kind of fade away into the wilderness

Jim Butler 19:24

No, I think healthcare is too high profile, too pointed an issue to let this just get swept under the rug by the passage of time. Governments, as you know, do react to public pressure and it is increasing by the month.

Jim Butler 19:39

Patients stuck at home waiting for surgery, burned out and frustrated healthcare practitioners. I'm glad these two doctors, personally speaking, have spoken out about the weaknesses and the failures in the system.

Jim Butler 19:52

And you can't blame government for the entire scenario because as you know, there's a shortage of nurses and doctors and other healthcare practitioners across this country and in many countries around the world.

Jim Butler 20:04

It is hard to get folks up here. A lot of people say, well, you'll have to pay them a lot more than you're paying now. Well, you know, everything in budgets is so expensive. Now we're getting into the infrastructure question as Dr.

Jim Butler 20:17

Komet points out. He and Dr. Story think that Whitehorse General, which is only 30 years old, modern hospital by many Southern City healthcare standards, the doctors are saying it's too small and needs further expansion.

Jim Butler 20:33

And my editorial concentrates on my memories from 30 years ago when our current hospital was built and the scenario as to how, when and why it was cut down from the much larger size that was originally contemplated in those days.

Ben Charland 20:51

Mm -hmm, and we talked about I think it was on episode one of this podcast about dr Story's letter and you laid out from memory the same details that you wrote here in this editorial about just how exactly this happened That the change of government was a big part of it.

Ben Charland 21:04

Obviously the Yukon party came in saw a place to make cuts Didn't see the obvious Leaves in the tea so to speak that we were going to be getting a lot more money and a lot more people in the Yukon In the coming years and that reducing the capacity of the hospital was a mistake and there was short -sightedness But I mean that that same political situation is kind of the one we're living in now We still have the same three political parties.

Ben Charland 21:29

We still have the same conversations about health care, you know, is it possible that the government of today or the next government in the Yukon makes a big change makes a big announcement and then does the same thing and After it's been announced and after things are already under construction Then they start cutting and then they start reducing and then they start reducing the infrastructure and the capacity Once the good news has been told so to speak

Jim Butler 21:53

Well, I'm sure hoping the lesson was learned from what transpired in the mid and late 1990s. Surely, no matter what government is in power a year from now, whether the liberals are re -elected or another party takes power, there's got to be some recognition.

Jim Butler 22:10

There's got to be some careful study of history as to how major decisions can go so wrong and be so short -sighted and entertain the complete failure of looking into the long -term future 30 years down the road.

Jim Butler 22:26

Everybody in that area, as far as my memory goes, never expected Whitehorse to shrink. Everybody expected it to grow. So why did we build a hospital featured in only half the beds of the hospital that was being demolished?

Jim Butler 22:40

It made no sense.

Ben Charland 22:41

Right. There's a bit of a segue there into Ken Coates's article on the private sector and the Yukon's economic future. And there's a bit of a warning here that the greasy wheels, so to speak, coming from Ottawa and transfer payments might slow or stop altogether or maybe even decline.

Ben Charland 23:00

And when that happens, what are we going to do about it? And Ken talks a little bit about how our private sector has been hobbled by the public sector. And this is a conversation we've had on previous episodes as well about the bloating of government and the dependence that the Yukon is on government.

Ben Charland 23:15

And it's the same in all three territories, obviously. But are we prepared for that sort of thing to happen? Say if Pierre Poliev's conservatives were to take power in Ottawa, this could have real ramifications for the territory.

Ben Charland 23:28

And obviously, we're talking about mining specifically here. But do you think people are prepared for this both just in terms of this public versus private debate, but also in terms of what we might see coming on the horizon?

Ben Charland 23:42

That, yeah, we all seem to expect that the prices of housing just keep going up and people keep moving here. But that might not go on forever.

Jim Butler 23:51

No, we might find that it's finite. I would highly recommend Dr. Ken Coates's column. He's a very learned man, very shrewd man. And yeah, he has written about exactly as you say, how much longer can we expect $2 billion a year in transfer payments to essentially be the foundation, the bedrock of this economy, as everybody's costs continue to mount and industries take hits from things like COVID and the high expense of getting here and the high expense of transportation and accommodation.

Jim Butler 24:25

How much longer can the dream go on? And Ken raises some very, very serious and very, very pointed points in his thesis that we had better start thinking about the future, an alternative federal government that will be in a cost saving mode and perhaps look at the size of transfer payments and scale them back to an extent.

Ben Charland 24:48

Yeah, it's obviously food for thought. And I can see the trajectory of Ken's articles that they're talking, I mean, he's talked before about the grant fund application economy that we have in the Yukon.

Ben Charland 25:00

And this is just another aspect of this. And it's really important, I think, for Yukoners to get a grasp of this. Because this is on the horizon. This is our future. It's also our present. Vince, is there something, we're going to get to the final question.

Ben Charland 25:14

We're drawing towards the end of our time. But is there something in the paper today that you wish we had talked about?

Vince Fedoroff 25:20

Well, certainly health care concerns with the hospital size. I mean, yeah, they're growing the administration side, but they don't seem to be growing the capacity side. Right. That's, I won't say it, but it's not good.

Vince Fedoroff 25:40

You know, that's a huge concern for people. And even while saying this, you know, we still have one of the best health care systems in Canada and our territory here, I think. Not having been elsewhere, but I'm a senior.

Vince Fedoroff 26:02

I can get, with no doctor. And I've had no trouble dealing with the medical system. And they've been certainly more beyond accommodating. Maybe we shouldn't mention this, you know. I had a friend who passed recently that he dearly wanted to leave, but he didn't feel he could because of his medical needs and how well he was treated here.

Vince Fedoroff 26:31

So I mean, we can complain, but we certainly should appreciate what we do have still, even though it's there's issues.

Ben Charland 26:42

Vince, I think that's a really good point. Both of my kids were born here in the Yukon, and the two times that we were in the maternity ward, my wife and I, was some of the best experiences we've had as parents.

Ben Charland 26:55

We were treated so well both times, we were not rushed out, and we have been told stories of fellow parents in Ontario, or Quebec, BC, Alberta, who are rushed out the door the very same day that they give birth.

Ben Charland 27:09

I mean, this may be just particularly with a maternity ward and how excellent that they were, and it's also anecdotal, this is just our experience. We all know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but we have to look at these positive experiences too, because they also inform the conversation.

Ben Charland 27:25

I think what the Dr. Komet's article is really interesting in pointing out, is that the crisis may be now, but it's the real problems are on the horizon. He notes that 64 percent of patients could be orphaned within about five years, because 41 percent of family doctors have said that they're going to close their practices.

Ben Charland 27:46

You just said, Vince, you don't have a family doctor, but the problem is when you have a medical issue and you don't have a doctor, you go to the hospital. If everyone's going to the hospital because there's no other recourse, then we're in a real problem and a real pickle, and that's already starting to happen.

Ben Charland 28:00

But I think just to echo what you were saying, Vince, it's really good that we see not just both sides of the coin, but understand that this is something we want to preserve and not just build out of nothing, that we're trying to preserve what's already good and not just tear it all down and start anew.

Ben Charland 28:15

The White Horse Hospital is a beautiful building that, unfortunately, just doesn't have the capacity anymore, and now we need to fix that, so thank you for that. This is a question for the final one for both of you, Jim and Vince.

Ben Charland 28:29

If there is one thing that you think we're going to be talking about next week on the podcast, what do you think that one thing is going to be? And Jim, please don't tell me it's going to be Victoria Gold once again, but you probably will, but go ahead.

Jim Butler 28:42

Okay, I might be barking up the wrong tree, but how about the White Horse Whiffers? Are you aware of the problems that they're encountering at City Hall? They're having, they're fearing some curtailments being placed on their training areas, both outside the Tekine Arena and the mezzanine of the arena.

Jim Butler 29:01

And yeah, they're having a real struggle on their hands. Everybody loves dogs, right? When did you last see a pickup truck with no dog? So I'm sure there's going to be a follow to that as the city and the club work out their disagreements and hopefully come to a resolution.

Ben Charland 29:15

All right, Vince, what do you think we're going to see next week in the UConn star?

Vince Fedoroff 29:19

Well, photo -wise, I'm hoping for some champion fiddlers perhaps.

Ben Charland 29:25

That was a pretty good tease. The Yukon Star podcast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Kwanlin -Dun First Nation and the Ta 'an Kwachan Council. We are grateful and determined to be part of a diverse, respectful society in these lands.

Ben Charland 29:44

Original Music I'm the Girl by Kim Rogers, produced and mixed by Rick Sanders. Listen to the Yukon Star podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your episodes. And if you have a minute, please leave a review.

Ben Charland 30:00

For more information about this series and the Yukon Star, visit theyukonstar .com. We'll see you next week.