Yukon Party
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Yukon Party Parti du Yukon | |
|---|---|
| Active territorial party | |
 | |
| Leader | Currie Dixon |
| President | Mark Beese |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Preceded by | Progressive Conservative Party |
| Headquarters | Whitehorse, YT |
| Ideology | Conservatism Yukon regionalism Provincehood |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| Colours | Blue |
| Seats in Legislature | 6 / 19 |
| Website | |
| www | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in Canada |
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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 government's decreasing popularity, the Yukon Progressive Conservatives decided to sever its relations with the federal Conservatives, and renamed itself the "Yukon Party" prior to the 1992 election.
However, two Progressive Conservative MLAs, Bea Firth and Alan Nordling, quit the party in protest of the name change and formed the Independent Alliance Party. Nordling later returned to the party, and was defeated as a Yukon Party candidate in the 1996 election, while Firth retired from politics.
The Yukon Party won the 1992 election, and leader John Ostashek became Premier of Yukon. His 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.
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 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 within two years. Premier Duncan called a snap election 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 (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 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 is currently serving as the Official Opposition.[1]
Leadership elections
2011 leadership election
On May 28, 2011, a leadership election was held to replace Dennis Fentie. Darrell Pasloski was chosen after only one ballot.[2]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Darrell Pasloski | 767 | 61.3% |
| Rod Taylor | 436 | 34.9% |
| Jim Kenyon | 48 | 3.8% |
| TOTAL | 1,251 | 100.0% |
2020 leadership election
On November 20, 2019, the party announced that it would hold a leadership election on May 23, 2020.[3] On March 25, party president Mark Beese announced that the voting will take place over phone and online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] Currie Dixon was elected with 50.44% of the vote on the second ballot. Dixon took 752 votes to 682 for Brad Cathers. 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.[5][6]
Election results
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | John Ostashek | 35.9 | 7 / 17
|
 7
|
1st
|
Minority | |
| 1996 | 4,366 | 30.1 | 3 / 17
|
 4
|
2nd
|
Opposition | |
| 2000 | 3,466 | 23.3 | 1 / 17
|
2
|
3rd
|
Opposition | |
| 2002 | Dennis Fentie | 5,650 | 40.3 | 12 / 18
|
11
|
1st
|
Majority |
| 2006 | 5,503 | 40.6 | 10 / 18
|
2
|
 1st
|
Majority | |
| 2011 | Darrell Pasloski | 5,503 | 40.6 | 11 / 19
|
1
|
1st
|
Majority |
| 2016 | 6,272 | 33.4 | 6 / 19
|
5
|
2nd
|
Opposition |
Leaders
- Chris Young 1991
- John Ostashek 1991–2000
- Peter Jenkins 2000–2002 (interim)
- Dennis Fentie 2002–2011
- Darrell Pasloski 2011–2016[7]
- Stacey Hassard 2016–2020 (interim)
- Currie Dixon 2020–Present
See also
References
- ^ "Yukon Liberals win majority after 14 years of conservative government". www.google.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
- ^ "Pasloski pleased to become Yukon's new premier". CBC News. May 30, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ^ "Yukon Party sets date for leadership election in May". CBC News. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ "Yukon Party to go ahead with leadership vote this spring". CBC News. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ "2020 Yukon Party Leadership Election". Youtube. May 23, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
- ^ "Currie Dixon wins Yukon Party leadership race". CBC News. May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
- ^ "Darrell Pasloski sworn in as Yukon premier". The Globe and Mail, June 11, 2016.
External links
Politics of Yukon | ||
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| Premier | ||
| Opposition Leader | ||
| Legislature | ||
| Elections | ||
| Other Canadian politics | ||
| Represented in the Legislative Assembly |
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| Other parties recognized by Elections Yukon | |
| Defunct parties | |
| Historical parties represented in the legislature | |
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