Yukon says there's no plan for Dawson City bridge, despite PM's comment

Yukon says there’s no plan for Dawson City bridge, despite PM’s comment

DAWSON CITY, Yukon — The Yukon government is pouring cold water on a suggestion by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that a bridge is being built across the Yukon River in Dawson City, after years of struggle to construct a sanctioned winter route over ice.

A statement from the territorial government says it believes Trudeau meant bridge construction happening about 700 kilometres away, adding that nearly 70 per cent of people surveyed in Dawson City don’t want a physical bridge.

Trudeau had been touting his government’s investment in infrastructure in the House of Commons on Wednesday, listing a string of projects including what he called “a new bridge over the Yukon River in Dawson City.”

Dawson City usually uses an ice bridge to connect communities on either side of the river in the winter, but it has become less reliable recently with the ice too thin for a government-approved route.

A statement issued by the Yukon government on Thursday says it believes Trudeau was referring to a project to replace the Nisutlin Bay Bridge in Teslin, Yukon, which is being partially paid for by the federal government’s National Trade Corridors Fund.

Trudeau’s office says in response to the Yukon statement that federal money was originally earmarked for a Dawson City bridge in 2021 but it was diverted to the Nusitlin project a year later, at the request of the Yukon government, as it was in urgent need of replacement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2024

The Canadian Press