The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political party in

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. It is the successor to the

Yukon Progressive Conservative Party The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Yukon) was a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It was succeeded by the Yukon Party. History The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party was founded in ...

Formation

With

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

's Progressive Conservative federal government's decreasing popularity, the Yukon Progressive Conservatives decided to sever its relations with the federal Conservatives, and renamed itself the "Yukon Party" in 1991. The party's first leadership convention in June 1991 was won by Chris Young, a 21-year-old former president of the Yukon Progressive Conservatives' youth chapter. However, two Progressive Conservative MLAs,

Bea Firth Beatrice Ann Firth (January 27, 1946 – June 20, 2008) was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Riverdale South in the Yukon Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1996. She was a member of the Yukon Progressive Conserv ...

and

Alan Nordling Alan Ronald Nordling (born May 25, 1952) is a Canadian former politician, who represented the electoral district of Whitehorse Porter Creek West from 1986 to 1992, and Porter Creek South from 1992 to 1996, in the Yukon Legislative Assembly. He ...

, quit the party within days of his victory, and formed the

Independent Alliance Party The Independent Alliance Party was a political party in the Canadian territory of Yukon that split from the Yukon Party in June 1991. The two original members were Bea Firth and Alan Nordling Alan Ronald Nordling (born May 25, 1952) is a Ca ...

. By August, however, Young resigned as leader on the grounds that he felt the voters of Yukon were not prepared to support a party whose leader was so young and politically inexperienced, and

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 ...

was acclaimed as his successor in November after his sole challenger, Daniel Lang, dropped out of the race. The Yukon Party won the 1992 election, and Ostashek became

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 ...

. He won only a minority government, and Nordling, Firth and

Willard Phelps Willard Leroy Phelps (born October 23, 1941) is a former Yukon politician, who briefly served as the second premier of Yukon in 1985. Background Born in 1941, he was the grandson of Willard "Deacon" Phelps and the son of John Phelps, both form ...

were all reelected as independents, but all three opted to support the Yukon Party on confidence and supply. Ostashek's government became very unpopular by increasing taxes and cutting services. The party was defeated in the 1996 election, winning only three seats and falling to third place for the first time behind the

Yukon Liberal Party The Yukon Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral du Yukon) is a political party in the territory of Yukon, Canada. The party is not organizationally linked to the federal Liberal Party of Canada in any official manner. Sandy Silver, MLA for Klond ...

. In the 1996 election Nordling returned to the party, and was defeated as a Yukon Party candidate, while Firth retired from politics.

Since 2000

The party's fortunes continued to decline at the 2000 general election. The Yukon Party was reduced to a single seat in the legislature as the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

vote moved to the Yukon Liberal Party, putting the Liberals in power for the first time in the territory's history. Liberal Premier

Pat Duncan Pat Duncan (born April 8, 1960) is a Canadian politician from Yukon. Duncan served as leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 1998 to 2005 and as the sixth premier of Yukon from 2000 until 2002. Duncan was the first Liberal premier of the Yukon ...

's government was plagued with internal dissent, however, and despite having won an outright majority of seats in the general election, defections and resignations reduced the Liberals to 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 ...

within two years. Premier Duncan called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

for 4 November 2002, in an effort to regain her majority, but the early election call backfired. The Yukon Party had elected

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 ...

, a rural Member of 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 ...

(MLA), who had defected from the

Yukon New Democratic Party The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Yukon, political party in the Yukon territory of Canada. The Yukon NDP first formed the gover ...

(NDP), as its new leader in June 2002. Despite being caught by surprise by the election call, the party was able to win a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

with 12 seats compared to five for the NDP. The Liberals were reduced to a single seat. Fentie became the second Yukon Premier from a rural riding. On 10 October 2006, the Yukon Party was re-elected, holding 10 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Yukon Liberals won five seats and the Yukon New Democrats won three. The party was defeated in the

2016 Yukon general election The 2016 general election in Yukon, Canada, took place on November 7, 2016, to return members to the 34th Yukon legislative assembly. The election was fought over issues relating to the economy, the environment, First Nations reconciliation, frack ...

and served as the Official Opposition.

Currie Dixon Currie Dixon (born September 2, 1985) is a Canadian politician, leader of the Yukon Party, and MLA for Copperbelt North. Dixon was a cabinet minister in the government of Darrell Pasloski and is the former MLA for Copperbelt North, having ser ...

led the party into the 2021 territorial election, the Yukon Party won 8 seats and won the popular vote overall. Dixon was personally elected in the district of

Copperbelt North Copperbelt North is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon in Canada. The riding was created in 2009 following the amalgamation of part of the district of Whitehorse West and the former ...

. On April 23, the incumbent Liberals were sworn in with a

. On April 28, the NDP announced that they had entered into a formal

confidence and supply In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house. A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...

agreement with the Liberals.

Leadership elections

2011 leadership election

On May 28, 2011, a leadership election was held to replace

Darrell Pasloski Darrell Thomas Pasloski (born December 2, 1960) is a territorial politician from Yukon, Canada, who was leader of the Yukon Party, and served as the eighth premier of Yukon from 2011 to 2016. His party was defeated in the general election of No ...

was chosen after only one ballot.

2020 leadership election

On November 20, 2019, the party announced that it would hold a

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

on May 23, 2020. On March 25, party president Mark Beese announced that the voting will take place over phone and online due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

was elected with 50.44% of the vote on the second ballot. Dixon took 752 votes to 682 for

Brad Cathers Brad Cathers is a Canadian politician. He represents the electoral district of Lake Laberge in the Yukon Legislative Assembly on behalf of the Yukon Party. He is currently the longest-serving incumbent in the Assembly. Political career Cathe ...

. On the first ballot, Dixon fell short of a majority, with 694 votes to Cathers' 637. Longtime party staffer Linda Benoit finished third with 160 votes.

Election results

Leaders

*Chris Young 0 1991 *

- 1991–2000 * Peter Jenkins - 2000–2002 *

- 2002–2011 *

- 2011–2016"Darrell Pasloski sworn in as Yukon premier"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', June 11, 2016. *

Stacey Hassard Stacey Hassard is a Canadian politician, who was elected to in the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2011 election. He represents the electoral district of Pelly-Nisutlin as a member of the Yukon Party caucus. He is a former leader of the Yuk ...

- 2016–2020 *

- 2020–present

References

External links

Yukon Party
{{Canadian Conservative Parties Territorial political parties in Yukon Political parties established in 1991 Conservative parties in Canada 1991 establishments in Yukon