Yukon's NDP leader wants furnace safety prioritized

Yukons opposition leader wants to know why the government still has not produced an action plan on furnace safety a promise it made months ago.

The plan was supposed to be a top priority, but six months after five Yukoners died from carbon monoxide poisoning, there's still no word on when action will be taken.

The leader of the Yukon New Democratic Party, Liz Hanson, has been demanding a public inquiry into furnace safety since January.

Five years ago, the government received the first of three separate reports from consultants, who said there were serious problems with furnace safety in the territory.

"We've had people die from faulty installations, the lack of carbon monoxide detectors, all of those," Hanson said. "What would be the hesitation of the territorial government to having a public inquiry?"

Instead of an inquiry, in March the Yukon government appointed a working group and promised it would come up with an action plan by this summer.

"The group is progressing very well," said committee chair Marc Perreault, who is also director of programming with the Yukon Housing Corporation. "We've been meeting regularly since the beginning of April and our action plan is still on target for mid-July."

The action plan will go to the Yukon Government to be implemented. Perreaultcould not say how long that will take.