1978 Yukon general election

The 1978 Yukon general election, held on November 20, 1978, was the first conventional legislative election in the history of Canada's Yukon Territory. Prior elections were held to elect representatives to the Yukon Territorial Council, a non-partisan body that acted in an advisory role to the Commissioner of the Yukon. Following the passage of the Yukon Elections Act in 1977, the 1978 election was the first time that voters in the Yukon elected representatives to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in an election organized along political party lines.

Hilda Watson, the first woman ever to lead a political party into an election in Canada, was the leader of the Progressive Conservatives. Although the party won the election, Watson herself was defeated in Kluane by Liberal candidate Alice McGuire, and thus did not become government leader. The position of government leader instead went to Chris Pearson.

New Democratic leader Fred Berger was also defeated in his own riding. He remained leader of the party until 1981, when he was succeeded by the party's sole elected MLA, Tony Penikett. Under Penikett's leadership, an MLA who had been elected as an independent in 1978 joined the NDP, and the party won a by-election. With its caucus increased to three members, the NDP had thus supplanted the Liberals as the official opposition by the time of the 1982 election.

Results by party

Party	Party Leader	# of cands	Seats
			Before	After	% of vote
Progressive Conservative	Hilda Watson	15		11	37.1
Liberal	Iain MacKay	14		2	26.0
Independent		9	16	2	16.6
NDP	Fred Berger	14		1	20.3
Total		52	16	16

Results by riding

Template:Canadian politics/candlist header 3plus |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Campbell | |Don McIntosh
61 | |Blake Stirling Macdonald
120 | |Margaret Thomson
65 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Robert Fleming
184 |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Faro | |no candidate | |no candidate | |Stuart McCall
231 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Maurice Byblow
361 |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Hootalinqua |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Al Falle
209 | |Mike Laforet
83 | |Max Fraser
159 | |Mack Henry
44 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Robert Fleming |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Klondike |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Meg McCall
152 | |no candidate | |Fred Berger
130 | |Eleanor Millard
114 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Fred Berger |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Kluane | |Hilda Watson
150 |bgcolor="#EA6D6A"| |Alice McGuire
188 | |no candidate | |John Livesey
49 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Hilda Watson |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Mayo |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Peter Hanson
95 | |Gordon McIntyre
84 | |Alan McDiarmid
82 | |David Harwood
85 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Gordon McIntyre |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Old Crow |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Grafton Njootli
62 | |Edith Tizya
29 | |Robert Bruce
19 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Tatchun |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Howard Tracey
109 | |Hugh Netzel
71 | |Jerry Roberts
83 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Watson Lake |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Don Taylor
226 | |Grant Taylor
188 | |no candidate | | |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Don Taylor |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse North Centre |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Geoff Lattin
153 | |Dermot Flynn
83 | |Doug Stephenson
131 | |Ken McKinnon
141 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Ken McKinnon |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse Porter Creek East |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Dan Lang
322 | |Bill Webber
202 | |Paul Warner
84 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse Porter Creek West |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Doug Graham
188 | |Clive Tanner
142 | |Kathy Horton
60 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse Riverdale North |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Chris Pearson
358 | |Richard Rotondo
194 | |Dave Dornian
59 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse Riverdale South | |Margaret Heath
354 |bgcolor="#EA6D6A"| |Iain MacKay
420 | |Jim McCullough
113 | | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| |new district |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse South Centre |bgcolor="#9999FF"| |Jack Hibberd
245 | |Bert Law
197 | |Ken Krocker
122 | | |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Jack Hibberd |- | style="background:whitesmoke;"|Whitehorse West | |Anthony Fekete
185 | |John Watt
200 |bgcolor="#F4A460"| |Tony Penikett
230 | |Al Omotani
81
Guy Julien
37 |bgcolor="#DCDCDC"| |Flo Whyard |}

Member changes

Liberal leader Iain MacKay resigned the party leadership and his seat in the legislature in 1980, and was succeeded in both roles by Ron Veale.

Following Penikett's accession to the leadership of the NDP in 1981, Maurice Byblow, elected as an independent, joined the party.

Jack Hibberd resigned his seat in the legislature on April 15, 1981, after accepting a position as a surgical consultant with a hospital outside of the Yukon. The resulting by-election, held on October 13, was won by New Democrat Roger Kimmerly. Now holding three seats in the legislature, the NDP replaced the Liberals as the Official Opposition.