Willard Leroy Phelps (born October 23, 1941) is a former

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

politician, who briefly served as the second

premier of Yukon The premier of Yukon is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian territory of Yukon. The post is the territory's head of government, although its powers are considerably more limited than that of a provincial premier. The office ...

in 1985.

Background

Born in 1941, he was the grandson of Willard "Deacon" Phelps and the son of John Phelps, both former members of the

Yukon Territorial Council The Yukon Territorial Council was a political body in the Canadian territory of Yukon, prior to the creation of the Yukon Legislative Assembly. Although not a full legislature, the council acted as an advisory body to the Commissioner of Yukon, and ...

. He graduated from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in 1968 with a law degree.

Political career

Phelps was first elected to the Yukon Territorial Council in 1974, but his election was overturned in 1975 after

Don Branigan Donald W. Branigan (1933 – June 27, 1999) was a Canadian politician and medical doctor, best known as a former mayor of Whitehorse, Yukon. As a medical doctor, he was also noted for his frequent legal conflicts with medical licensing bodies oppo ...

filed for a court injunction on the grounds that as the government was renting space in Phelps' commercial real estate holdings for some of its

liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

s, his serving on the council placed him in a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. He did not run for the

Yukon Legislative Assembly The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada, three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only terri ...

in the elections of 1978 or 1982. However, with the resignation of Chris Pearson as government leader in 1985 the Progressive Conservatives chose Phelps as its new leader and he was accordingly the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

''Government Leader'' Profile of Willard Phelps"> Profile of Willard Phelps
at Opportunities North 2008 from March 23 to May 28, 1985, when the Yukon NDP took office after winning the 1985 election. Phelps was

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

from 1985 until 1991. When the Progressive Conservatives became the Yukon Party, Phelps became an Independent Alliance MLA but sat in the new party's

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

. When

John Ostashek John Ostashek (May 10, 1936 – June 10, 2007) was a Yukon politician. An entrepreneur, he was elected leader of the Yukon Party in June 1992 and led it to victory in the fall 1992 election in which he also won a seat in the legislature for the ...

Yukon Party The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It is the successor to the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party. Formation With Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative federal go ...

took power in 1992 with a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

, Phelps lent his support and became minister of justice, health and social services. In 1994 he dropped the justice portfolio and picked up responsibility for education. In his responsibilities for social services, Phelps instituted welfare reform hiring private investigators to look into welfare recipients. He also argued for the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the government owned energy concern. Phelps resigned his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

positions in March 1996. Phelps ran for re-election but lost his seat in the fall election. Phelps formed the

United Citizens Party of Yukon The following is a list of political parties in Yukon, Canada. Between 1902 and 1978, candidates in elections for the Yukon Territorial Council all ran as independents. Party politics was established in the territory for the 1978 territorial elec ...

in 2009 to oppose the government of

Dennis Fentie Dennis G. Fentie (November 8, 1950 – August 30, 2019) was a Canadian politician. He was the seventh premier of Yukon and leader of the Yukon Party, serving from 2002 to 2011, as well as the MLA for Watson Lake. Before entering politics, Fe ...

. He resigned as the party leader on May 9, 2011 due to health reasons and waning interest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Willard Premiers of Yukon 1941 births Living people Independent MLAs in Yukon Yukon Party MLAs Members of the Yukon Territorial Council Members of the Executive Council of Yukon