The Yukon Party, formerly the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party, is a

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

political party in

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

, Canada.

History

The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party was founded in April 1978. Long time Yukon legislator Hilda Watson was elected as the party's first leader defeating Yukon MP Erik Nielsen by one vote. Watson had been a member of the territorial

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

since 1970, and became the first woman in Canadian history to lead a political party into a general election. However, she was unable to win a seat in the 1978 election, and consequently resigned. Chris Pearson then became the leader of the party and was able to get a position in the government. The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 1985 election by the

Yukon New Democratic Party The Yukon New Democratic Party (YNDP; ) is a social democratic political party in the Yukon, Canada. It is the territorial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The Yukon NDP first formed the government of the territory under the leaders ...

(NDP) led by Tony Penikett. With the increasing unpopularity of the

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was 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 studi ...

's Progressive Conservative in the federal government, the Yukon Progressive Conservatives decided to sever their relations with the federal Conservatives. Later on, they renamed themselves the "Yukon Party" prior to the 1992 election. The party's first leadership convention as the Yukon Party was held in June 1991 and won by Chris Young, a 21-year-old former president of the Yukon Progressive Conservatives' youth chapter. However, two Progressive Conservative MLAs, Bea Firth and Alan Nordling, quit the party within days of his victory, and formed the Independent Alliance Party. 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 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. He won only a minority government, and Nordling, Firth and Willard Phelps 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 by the NDP, winning only three seats and falling to third place for the first time behind the Yukon Liberal Party. In the 1996 election, Nordling returned to the party; he was defeated as a Yukon Party candidate. Further, 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 is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

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'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 formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

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. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

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

Yukon Legislative Assembly The Yukon Legislative Assembly () is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organized along political party lines. In contr ...

(MLA), who had defected from the

(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. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

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 and served as the Official Opposition. Currie Dixon 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. 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 parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

agreement with the Liberals.

Leadership elections

Electoral performance

Leaders

* Hilda Watson – 1978 * Chris Pearson – 1978–1979 (interim), 1978–1985 * Willard Phelps – 1985–1991 *Chris Young – 1991 * John Ostashek – 1991–2000 * Peter Jenkins – 2000–2002 * Dennis Fentie – 2002–2011 * Darrell Pasloski – 2011–2016"Darrell Pasloski sworn in as Yukon premier"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', June 11, 2016. * Stacey Hassard - 2016–2020 * Currie Dixon – 2020–present

References

External links

Yukon Party
{{Canadian Conservative Parties Territorial political parties in Yukon Political parties established in 1978 Conservative parties in Canada 1978 establishments in Yukon