Yukon Government

{{Infobox legislature , name = Legislature of Yukon , legislature =

34th Yukon Legislative Assembly The 34th Yukon Legislative Assembly commenced on November 8, 2016, after Yukon voters defeated the Yukon Party government under the leadership of Darrell Pasloski and returned a Liberal majority government under the leadership of Sandy Silver. The ...

, house_type = Unicameral , houses = Territorial Council (1898-1978)
Legislative Assembly (1978-) , foundation = {{Start date, 1898 , preceded_by = Northwest Territories Legislature , session_room = Yukon Legislature main entrance.jpg , meeting_place =

Legislative Building A legislative building is a building in which a legislature sits and makes laws for its respective Polity, political entity. The term used for the building varies between the political entities, such as "building", "capitol", "hall", "house", or ...

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

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 ...

, Canada The Legislature of Yukon is the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

of the territory of

, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the

Commissioner of Yukon The commissioner of Yukon (french: Commissaire du Yukon) is the representative of the Government of Canada in the Canadian federal territory of Yukon. The commissioner is appointed by the federal government and, in contrast to the governor gene ...

, who represents the

federal government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in- ...

, and the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

assembly

Yukon Legislative Assembly The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organiz ...

. The legislature has existed since Yukon was formed out of part of the Northwest Territories in 1898. Like the Canadian federal government, Yukon uses a Westminster-style

parliamentary government A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of t ...

, in which members are sent to the Legislative Assembly after

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and from there the party with the most seats chooses a

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 ...

and

Executive Council of Yukon The Executive Council of Yukon (french: Conseil exécutif du Yukon), more commonly known as the Cabinet of Yukon (french: Cabinet du Yukon), is the cabinet of the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is chosen by the Premier from the elected members of ...

. The premier acts as Yukon's

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

. Being creatures of the federal government, Canadian territories do not have heads of state, but the role of the Commissioner is somewhat analogous to the role of a provincial lieutenant governor. Before the Legislative Assembly was created in 1978, the territory's legislative assembly was 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, an ...

. This council was unelected from 1898 until 1909.