Eric Fairclough is a Canadian politician, who was a Cabinet minister and Leader of the Official Opposition in 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 ...

. He represented the rural

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 ...

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Mayo-Tatchun Mayo-Tatchun is an electoral district which returns an MLA to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon Territory in Canada. It is an amalgamation of the former Mayo and Tatchun electoral districts. Mayo-Tatchun is currently one of the Yukon's ...

in the

from 1996 to 2011 under both 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 ...

and the Liberals. He is also a former Chief of the

Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation The Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation is a First Nation in the central Yukon Territory in Canada. Its original population centre was Little Salmon, Yukon, but most of its citizens live in Carmacks, Yukon. The language originally spoken by the Li ...

Political career

31st Legislative Assembly

Fairclough was elected to the incoming New Democrat government of

Piers McDonald Piers McDonald, OC (born August 4, 1955) is a Yukon politician and businessman. Born in Kingston, Ontario, McDonald, originally a miner by profession, is a long-time MLA, Cabinet minister, and the fifth premier of Yukon. He was leader of the Y ...

in the

1996 Yukon general election The 1996 Yukon general election was held on September 30, 1996 to elect the seventeen members of the 29th Yukon Legislative Assembly in Yukon Territory, Canada. The governing Yukon Party, a conservative party, was defeated by the social democr ...

. He ran successfully in the rural New Democrat stronghold of

, succeeding retiring New Democrat MLA

Danny Joe Danny Joe is a former Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Tatchun from 1987 to 1992, and Mayo-Tatchun from 1992 to 1996, in the Yukon Legislative Assembly. A member of the Yukon New Democratic Party, Joe was formerly ...

. Before entering territorial politics, Fairclough had been Chief of the

. Fairclough served in McDonald's Cabinet from 1996-2000 as Minister of Renewable Resources, Minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation, and the Minister responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corporation.

30th Legislative Assembly

Fairclough was re-elected as a member of the New Democrats in the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, but that election saw his party reduced to Official Opposition status. Fairclough became interim leader of the New Democrats when Trevor Harding, the previous interim leader, decided to resign politics. Harding had succeeded New Democrat leader Piers McDonald, who had been defeated on election night. Fairclough ultimately ran for leadership of the New Democrats, but withdrew. Former

Whitehorse Centre Whitehorse Centre is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon in Canada. It was created in 1992 from an amalgamation of the ridings of Whitehorse North Centre and Whitehorse South ...

MLA

Todd Hardy Todd Hardy (May 17, 1957 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian carpenter, trade union activist, and politician who served as Leader of the Yukon New Democratic Party. He has also served as Leader of the Opposition in the Yukon Legislative Assembly f ...

, who had lost his seat in the 2000 election, was elected leader in 2002.

31st Legislative Assembly

Fairclough was elected in 2002 Yukon election, again as part of the Official Opposition. He was appointed Official Opposition critic for Health and Social Services and Public Schools. He also shared critic portfolios on Finance and First Nations relations. However, he was later expelled in 2006 from the New Democrat caucus by leader Todd Hardy when it was discovered that he and his colleague, Kluane MLA Gary McRobb, were publicly consulting constituents about considering quitting the New Democrats for the Liberals due to Hardy's isolated decision-making and a lack of faith in his leadership. Fairclough had also insisted upon Hardy calling a leadership race, but Hardy had refused. Fairclough and McRobb soon joined the Liberal caucus, reducing Hardy's New Democrats to third party status and elevating the

Yukon Liberal Party The Yukon Liberal Party () 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. History After twenty years as a minor party, the Yukon Libe ...

to Official Opposition. The move prompted the New Democrats to table legislation preventing MLAs from crossing the floor without an ensuing election, but the legislation was never adopted. Fairclough served as the Liberal environment critic for the rest of the session.

32nd Legislative Assembly

Fairclough was comfortably re-elected in his riding in the 2006 Yukon election, capturing half the vote. McRobb too was re-elected, and the Liberals retained their Official Opposition status under a

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 ...

majority government. During the 32nd legislature, Fairclough served as opposition critic for Health and Social Services, Community Services, Education, the Public Service Commission, the Yukon Liquor Corporation, and the Yukon Housing Corporation. He also functioned as the Liberals' whip. Fairclough announced his intention to seek re-election in his riding of Mayo-Tatchun in the 2011 Yukon election, but was defeated in his attempt by the New Democrat's Jim Tredger. Fairclough finished in third behind the New Democrats and the

Personal life

Fairclough was once again re-elected Chief of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation after his departure from territorial politics in 2011. He served one term prior to being defeated in 2016. During his second tenure as Chief, he was a vocal critic of the territorial and federal governments' attempts to amend the ''Yukon Environment and Socio-Economic Assessment Act'' to reduce the power of Yukon First Nations under Bill S-6. Fairclough argued that the proposed changes undermined the spirit of the First Nations' final agreements. The victorious Liberal campaigns of Yukon Premier

Sandy Silver Sidney Alexander "Sandy" Silver (born October 15, 1969) is a Canadian politician, who served as the ninth premier of Yukon from 2016 to 2023. He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2011 election, and was re-elected in 201 ...

and

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 ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

ultimately committed to repealing Bill S-6 in the 2016 Yukon election and the 2015 federal election, respectively.Yukon First Nations hold Liberals to S-6 promise
CBC North (October 21, 2015).

Electoral record

Yukon general election, 2011

, - ,

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

, Jim Tredger , align="right", 282 , align="right", 41.7% , align="right", +24.2% ,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

, Eric Fairclough , align="right", 181 , align="right", 26.7% , align="right", -26.5% , - ! align left colspan=3, Total ! align= 677 ! align= 100.0% ! align= –

Yukon general election, 2006

, - ,

, Eric Fairclough , align="right", 301 , align="right", 53.2% , align="right", +22.6% ,

, Karen Gage , align="right", 99 , align="right", 17.5% , align="right", -21.9% , - ! align=left colspan=3, Total ! align=566 ! align=100.0% ! align= –

Yukon general election, 2002

, - ,

, Eric Fairclough , align="right", 339 , align="right", 49.3% , align="right", -12.4% , - ,

, Pat Van Bibber , align="right", 210 , align="right", 30.6% , align="right", -7.7% , - , - ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, Dibs Williams , align="right", 36 , align="right", 5.2% , align="right", +5.2% , - ! align=left colspan=3, Total ! align=687 ! align=100.0% ! align= –

Yukon general election, 2000

, - ,

, Eric Fairclough , align="right", 446 , align="right", 61.7% , align="right", -9.9% ,

, Wilf Tuck , align="right", 277 , align="right", 38.3% , align="right", +38.3% , - ! align=left colspan=3, Total ! align=723 ! align=100.0% ! align= –

Yukon general election, 1996

, - ,

, Eric Fairclough , align="right", 454 , align="right", 71.6% , align="right", +26.6% , - ! align=left colspan=3, Total ! align=634 ! align=100.0% ! align= –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairclough, Eric 1962 births Living people 20th-century members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly 21st-century members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly 20th-century First Nations people 21st-century First Nations people First Nations politicians Indigenous leaders in Yukon Politicians from Whitehorse Tutchone people Leaders of the Yukon CCF/NDP Yukon Liberal Party MLAs