Paul Thériault is a former Canadian politician who served as leader of 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 ...

in 1992."Yukon Party upsets NDP: Three former Tories win as Independents". ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'', October 20, 1992. A school principal in

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

,David Leyton-Brown, ''Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs 1992''.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, 1992. . p. 267. Thériault had resided 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 ...

for just eighteen months when he sought the leadership. Prior to moving to Yukon, he had been a

Saskatchewan Liberal Party The Saskatchewan Progress Party (SPP) is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was founded in 1905 as the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan, and retained that name until members voted to change it in 2023. Until 20 ...

candidate in the 1986 provincial election in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. He became leader at a time when the party was moribund, as it was entirely shut out of the

Legislative Assembly of Yukon 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 ...

in the 1989 election and had been effectively leaderless since the resignation of Jim McLachlan following that defeat. In the hopes of uniting to defeat the incumbent

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 ...

government in the 1992 election, Thériault entered

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

negotiations with

John Ostashek John Ostashek (May 10, 1936 – June 10, 2007) was a Yukon politician. An entrepreneur, he was elected leader of the Yukon Party in June 1992 and led it to victory in the fall 1992 election in which he also won a seat in the legislature for th ...

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 ...

, but the negotiations failed. In the election campaign, Thériault's Liberal platform included $22 million in spending cuts, the creation of a new government department of mines and energy, the splitting of the Yukon Development and Yukon Energy corporations, and a $30 million plan to improve sewage treatment. During the campaign, Thériault faced controversy when it was revealed that he had once unsuccessfully sought a

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; ) was a Centrism, centre to centre-right List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 unti ...

nomination, and had run for the presidency of the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. The party won just one seat in the 1992 election, that of Jack Cable in the electoral district of Riverside. Thériault himself was defeated in

Riverdale South Riverdale South 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 North, it makes up the subdivision of Whitehorse called Riverd ...

Bea Firth Beatrice Ann Firth (January 27, 1946 – June 20, 2008) was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Riverdale South in the Yukon Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1996. She was a member of the Yukon Progressive Conserva ...

. He announced his resignation as party leader in his concession speech, and was succeeded by Cable.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Canadian politicians Candidates in Saskatchewan provincial elections Franco-Yukonnais people Saskatchewan Liberal Party politicians Yukon Liberal Party leaders {{Yukon-politician-stub