The 2016 general election 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, 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,

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

, and the merits of a territorial carbon tax. Sandy Silver's

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

won an upset victory over the incumbent

Yukon Party The Yukon Party, formerly the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party, is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. History The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party was founded in April 1978. Long time Yukon legislator Hilda Watson was ...

government led by Darrell Pasloski, who lost his own seat in the riding of Mountainview.

Pre-writ period

* August 17, 2012: Darius Elias resigns as interim Liberal leader and sits as an independent. * July 8, 2013: Darius Elias crosses the floor to the Yukon Party. * March 1, 2014: Sandy Silver agrees to lead the Liberal Party. * May 10, 2016: David Laxton stepped down as Speaker and as a member of the Yukon Party caucus to sit as an Independent MLA for personal reasons. It would later come out that the resignation was due to an allegation of sexual harassment leveled at Laxton. One month later, the Yukon Party would bar Laxton from running for the party in the upcoming election. * June 8, 2016: Education Minister and veteran territorial and municipal politician

Doug Graham Sir Douglas Arthur Montrose Graham (born 12 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party. Early life and family Graham was born in Auckland, and attended Southwell School ...

announces he will not seek re-election in his riding of Porter Creek North. * June 15, 2016: Currie Dixon, minister for Community Services, announces he will not seek a second term as MLA for Copperbelt North. In 2011, Dixon became the Yukon's youngest-ever cabinet minister at the age of 26. * Aug. 11, 2016: After saying he would not run in the upcoming territorial election, Education Minister Doug Graham announced he would seek the Yukon Party nomination in Whitehorse Centre. Graham has been the Yukon Party MLA for Porter Creek North since 2011. * October 7, 2016: Premier Darrell Pasloski calls the election for November 7, 2016, starting the official 31-day campaign period.

2016 Campaign

During the campaign, the issues of economic diversification, environmental management, and First Nations reconciliation were central themes, as was each party's stance on fracking. The announcement that the federal government would impose a national

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

also affected the political direction of the campaign, with the Yukon Party vowing to fight any effort to impose a carbon tax on the Yukon. The incumbent Yukon Party, led by Darrell Pasloski since 2011, had governed the Yukon since 2002 when it defeated the Yukon Liberal Party. While the Yukon Party had been re-elected in 2011 during a commodity boom, by 2016 the Yukon economy was in a recession. Leading into the 2016 campaign, the Yukon Party was drawing criticism over its poor relationship with First Nations, its stance on the environment, access to healthcare, and a perceived mismanagement of the Yukon economy. The Yukon Party ran on a campaign of ''True North''. Central to this campaign was prioritizing the creation of jobs, growing the economy, and keeping taxes low. It also adamantly opposed the federal carbon tax. The Yukon Party entered the 2016 campaign with ten of its twelve MLAs seeking re-election, albeit it with two running in different ridings ( Scott Kent and

). The Yukon New Democratic Party, led by Liz Hanson, had been the Official Opposition since 2011. The party had been critical of the Yukon Party's relationship with First Nations, its stewardship of the economy, and its management of government services such as healthcare. The Yukon New Democratic Party ran on a campaign of ''Building a Better Yukon''. The party emphasized the need for a change in government, and championed causes such as improving the healthcare system, transparent government, First Nations reconciliation, and economic diversification. It supported investing a federal carbon tax in green energy and low income supports. All six Yukon New Democratic Party MLAs sought re-election. The Yukon Liberal Party, led by Sandy Silver, held only one seat after Darius Elias joined the Yukon Party. The Liberal platform, ''Be Heard'', promoted economic diversification, responsible environmental management, and improving First Nations relations. The Liberals promised to return funds raised from a federal carbon tax back to Yukoners. Despite having only one seat, the party gained visibility in late 2015 following the election the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

to a majority government; it had also been the Third Party. The Yukon Liberal Party had led in the two opinion polls prior to the election period, despite holding just one seat in the legislature – Sandy Silver's district of Klondike. The Liberals also gained attention due to a series of high-profile contested nominations that helped build the profile of their candidates and party in the lead up to the campaign. The Yukon Green Party, led by Frank De Jong, running in its second election, championed the issue of climate change and electoral reform. It also opposed the public funding of Catholic schools. The Green Party had no incumbent MLAs leading into the election, but managed to run five candidates during the campaign. Controversy arose when the Chief Electoral Officer launched two inquiries during the campaign, citing concerns about proxy voting, special ballots, and purposeful misinformation by all three candidates in the Mountainview riding, as well as the use of proxy votes by Liberal candidate Tamara Goeppel in the Whitehorse Centre riding. The Chief Electoral Officer eventually ruled that there was no wrongdoing in Mountainview, but her inquiry into Whitehorse Centre led the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

to press charges in February 2017. The election also marked a continued trend in the turnout at advance polls, which had doubled in each of the previous two elections. In the 2016 election, advanced turnout doubled again, with 6,437 voters casting advance or special ballots. This represented more than one-in-three votes cast in the election overall (18,787).

Results

The Yukon Liberal Party was elected to a majority government on November 7, 2016, with 11/19 seats. The 2016 election resulted in one of the single-largest gain of seats for a party in Yukon history (+10), tying for the Yukon Party win of

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. It was the Liberals' second time being elected to power in the Yukon. The Liberals also posted their best ever returns in rural Yukon, winning four of eight rural seats. In Whitehorse, the Liberals posted their second-best returns in party history, taking seven of eleven seats (the party had swept the city in the 2000 election). However, despite winning the popular vote comfortably, many Liberal margins of victory were quite narrow. A judicial recount was later held to confirm the results in the districts of Vuntut Gwitchin and Mountainview. It was determined that in both instances, the Liberal candidate won by seven votes. The Yukon Party saw five of its MLAs re-elected, with one new candidate,

Geraldine Van Bibber Geraldine Van Bibber (born July 3, 1951) is a Canadian politician representing the Yukon electoral district of Porter Creek North as a member of the Yukon Party. She was elected as part of the 2016 Yukon general election, 2016 Yukon election. V ...

, elected. However, Premier Pasloski, Deputy Premier Elaine Taylor, and ministers Mike Nixon and Doug Graham were all defeated. The party also failed to retain two of the three seats where incumbents had not sought re-election. The New Democratic Party lost four of its six seats, with party leader Liz Hanson and incumbent

Kate White Kate White is an American author, former magazine editor, and speaker. From 1998 to 2012, she served as the editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' and left to concentrate full time on writing suspense fiction. She is the ...

the only two re-elected. In two ridings, New Democrat incumbents lost narrowly to Liberal star candidates: Kevin Barr lost to former Whitehorse City Councillor and environmental scientist John Streicker by 14 votes in Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes and Jan Stick lost to former Ombudsman Tracy McPhee by 37 votes in Riverdale South. It was the party's worst electoral showing since 1978. No Green Party candidate was elected. Surprisingly, the number of individual votes received by the Yukon Party and the New Democrats was also largely unchanged; each party received only about 200 votes less than it had in 2011. The gain in Liberal support (+3,500 votes) could possibly be attributable in part to the increase in Yukon population between 2011 and 2016. In ridings where the population had increased notably in that time - Whitehorse West,

Porter Creek Centre Porter Creek Centre is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, Canada. It was created in 2002 out of the Whitehorse ridings of Porter Creek North and Porter Creek South. It encompass ...

, Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes, Whitehorse Centre,

Porter Creek North Porter Creek North is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, Canada. It contains part of the Whitehorse subdivision of Porter Creek, as well as the subdivisions of Crestview and Kul ...

, Takhini-Kopper King, and Copperbelt South - Liberal support rose substantially over the last campaign. Despite this increase in votes, however, the Yukon Liberal Party still received a smaller share of the popular vote than the Yukon Party did in the 2011 election. In some of these larger ridings too, the Liberals saw a significant increase in votes, only to lose still. Turnout was 79.9% (18,787 votes), the highest in Yukon history and the highest since 1996.

Campaign Donations

The election marked the highest-ever levels of expenditures and revenue (cash and in-kind) by the Yukon political parties in an election year. In 2016, Elections Yukon reported that the Yukon Party raised $236,015, the Yukon Liberal Party raised $233,243, the Yukon New Democrats raised $165,817, and the Yukon Green Party raised $5,948. Compared to the 2011 election, this was a drastic increase. In that campaign, the Yukon Party raised $153,892.90, the Yukon Liberal Party raised $71,159.53, the Yukon New Democrats raised $75,616.35, and the Yukon Green Party raised $575. The then-active Yukon First Nations Party raised $1,104. Nonetheless, despite a significant increase in fundraising revenue, all three major parties reported significant campaign deficits in 2016. Overall, the Yukon Liberals benefited from the largest single corporate contribution in Yukon history of $50,000, while the Yukon Party benefited from the most corporate donations and the New Democrats from the most individual donations. Of particular interest was that the Yukon Liberal Party in 2016 raised more than five times what it raised collectively between 2011 and 2015. Nearly a quarter of the Liberals' donations came from large donations from mining companies.

Whitehorse Centre Investigation

During the 2016 campaign, Liberal candidate for Whitehorse Centre, Tamara Goeppel, was accused of soliciting proxy ballots from ten homeless people in her riding. Proxy votes, a form of franchise in which voters surrender their vote to another in their stead, are intended for use only by voters who have reason to believe they will be absent from the territory on voting day and advanced polling days. The Chief Electoral Officer opened an investigation into Goeppel during the campaign, and despite calls to drop Goeppel as a candidate, Liberal Leader Sandy Silver continued to support her candidacy. Goeppel was defeated by New Democrat Leader Liz Hanson on election night. In February 2017, the Chief Electoral Officer's investigation led to the RCMP charging Goeppel with two counts of "aiding or abetting persons in making proxy applications that were not in accordance with Section 106 of the (Yukon Elections) Act," and one count of "inducing persons to falsely declare on proxy application that they would be absent from the Yukon during the hours fixed for voting." If convicted, Goeppel faces a $5,000 fine, up to a year in jail, or both. Goeppel entered a plea of not guilty in June 2017. Her trial date is not yet determined. She is the first person to be charged under the ''Yukon Elections Act''.

Standings

Candidates

Bold incumbents indicates cabinet members and ''party leaders and the speaker of the assembly'' are ''italicized''.

Rural Yukon

, - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Klondike , , , Brad Whitelaw
365 (31.4%) , , , Jay Farr
111 (9.5%) , , , , '' Sandy Silver''
687 (59.1%) , , , , , , , , , , ''Sandy Silver'' , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Kluane , , , , Wade Istchenko
338 (43.3%) , , , Sally Wright
153 (19.5%) , , , Mathieya Alatini
289 (37.1%) , , , , , , , , , , Wade Istchenko , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Lake Laberge , , , , Brad Cathers
558 (46.5%) , , , Anne Tayler
261 (21.8%) , , , Alan Young
342 (28.5%) , , , Julie Anne Ames
38 (3.2%) , , , , , , , Brad Cathers , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Mayo-Tatchun , , , Cory Bellmore
166 (22.7%) , , , Jim Tredger
233 (31.9%) , , , , Don Hutton
331 (45.3%) , , , , , , , , , , Jim Tredger , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes , , , Rob Schneider
284 (24.2%) , , , Kevin Barr
437 (37.3%) , , , , John Streicker
451 (38.5%) , , , , , , , , , , Kevin Barr , - , style="background:whitesmoke;",

Pelly-Nisutlin Pelly-Nisutlin is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon Territory in Canada. It was created in 2002 out of the districts of Faro and Ross River-Southern Lakes. The riding incl ...

, , , , Stacey Hassard
280 (42.4%) , , , Ken Hodgins
207 (31.3%) , , , Carl Sidney
152 (23.0%) , , , '' Frank De Jong''
22 (3.3%) , , , , , , , Stacey Hassard , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Vuntut Gwitchin , , , Darius Elias
70 (46.7%) , , , Skeeter Wright
3 (2.0%) , , , , Pauline Frost
77 (51.3%) , , , , , , , , , , Darius Elias , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Watson Lake , , , , '' Patti McLeod''
299 (38.9%) , , , Erin Labonte
219 (28.5%) , , , Ernie Jamieson
212 (27.6%) , , , , , , Victor Kisoun
38 (5.0%) , , , , ''Patti McLeod''

Whitehorse

, - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Copperbelt North , , , Pat McInroy
529 (42.1%) , , , André Bourcier
161 (12.8%) , , , , Ted Adel
566 (45.1%) , , , , , , , , , , Currie Dixon† , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Copperbelt South , , , , Scott Kent§
449 (36.9%) , , , Lois Moorcroft
331 (27.2%) , , , Jocelyn Curteanu
425 (34.9%) , , , Phillipe Leblond
12 (1.0%) , , , , , , , Lois Moorcroft , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Mountainview , , , '' Darrell Pasloski''
399 (31.4%) , , , Shaunagh Stikeman
432 (34.1%) , , , , Jeanie Dendys
439 (34.5%) , , , , , , , , , , ''Darrell Pasloski'' , - , style="background:whitesmoke;",

, , , Michelle Kolla
379 (36.3%) , , , Pat Berrel
213 (20.4%) , , , , Paolo Gallina
452 (43.3%) , , , , , , , , , , David Laxton† , - , style="background:whitesmoke;",

, , , ,

435 (44.0%) , , , Francis van Kessel
145 (14.7%) , , , Eileen Melnychuk
372 (37.6%) , , , Mike Ivens
37 (3.7%) , , , , , , ,

§ , - , style="background:whitesmoke;",

Porter Creek South Porter Creek South is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, Canada. It comprises part of the Whitehorse subdivision of Porter Creek and is the smallest riding in Whitehorse. It is ...

, , , Mike Nixon
285 (39.4%) , , , Shirley Chua-Tan
102 (14.1%) , , , ,

Ranj Pillai Ranj Pillai (born January 1974) is a Canadian politician, who has been the tenth premier of Yukon since January 14, 2023, and leader of the Yukon Liberal Party since January 9, 2023. He represents the electoral district of Porter Creek South i ...

337 (46.6%) , , , , , , , , , , Mike Nixon , - , style="background:whitesmoke;",

Riverdale North Riverdale North is an electoral district which elects a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon Territory in Canada. Along with Riverdale South, it makes up the subdivision of Whitehorse of Riverdale ...

, , , Mark Beese
258 (23.1%) , , , Rod Snow
337 (30.2%) , , , , Nils Clarke
486 (43.5%) , , , Kristina Calhoun
36 (3.2%) , , , , , , , Scott Kent§ , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Riverdale South , , , Danny Macdonald
323 (28.6%) , , , Jan Stick
384 (34.0%) , , , , Tracy McPhee
421 (37.3%) , , , , , , , , , , Jan Stick , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Takhini-Kopper King , , , Vanessa Innes
229 (17.5%) , , , ,

605 (46.1%) , , , Jeane Lassen
478 (36.4%) , , , , , , , , , , Kate White , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Whitehorse Centre , , ,

§
193 (17.4%) , , , , '' Liz Hanson''
487 (43.8%) , , , Tamara Goeppel
432 (38.9%) , , , , , , , , , , ''Liz Hanson'' , - , style="background:whitesmoke;", Whitehorse West , , , Elaine Taylor
433 (43.6%) , , , Stu Clark
106 (10.7%) , , , , Richard Mostyn
455 (45.8%) , , , , , , , , , , Elaine Taylor § - denotes incumbent MLAs who have opted to run in another district
† - denotes a retiring incumbent MLA

Opinion polls

References

External links

Elections Yukon
{{Canelections 2016 elections in Canada Elections in Yukon November 2016 in Canada