A Liberal cabinet minister said the timing of the Yukon premier’s resignation was intentional.
On May 7, Premier Ranj Pillai announced he will be stepping away from Yukon Liberal Party leadership and premiership after a new leader is found, as the Liberal minority government’s four-year term nears its end. He won't take a third run for his seat as MLA.
Two cabinet ministers took questions from the News about their colleague’s upcoming departure following a press conference on May 8. The unrelated tourism event was scheduled to announce the launch of a new travel brochure for Yukoners and visitors to refer to before coming up and hitting the outdoors in the territory.
John Streicker, whose key ministerial portfolio covers mining, commented on Pillai's timing.
“[Pillai] did it purposefully after the last sitting in a minority House,” Streicker said. “By the way, it will end up being like kind of the longest serving minority government in the past century.”
Streicker noted that whoever comes forward to fill Pillai’s shoes will be heading into a fall election. He compared the situation to what just happened at the federal level.
Federal elections held at the end of April saw Prime Minister Mark Carney brought in at the head of a minority Liberal government. That was just a couple months after he attained the federal Liberal leadership and the responsibilities of Prime Minister, before calling the April 28 election. Carney won his seat in Ottawa's Nepean riding.
Streicker suggested Carney was well-prepared to begin leadership, much like whoever intends on taking over the Yukon Liberal Party will need to be.
Territorial elections must occur on or before Nov. 3.
Minister Richard Mostyn heads the government's Community Services department. He said the talent and experience of the present cabinet exceeds any other he had served on since he was first elected in November 2016 or that he covered during his time as a reporter before then. He suggested the unity within the group is unheard of in his years of observation.
“Not disparaging the other cabinets. I'm just saying the cohesion, the professionalism, the fact that we still get together after a session and talk,” Mostyn said, “says something about the camaraderie and esprit de corps that both [former premier] Sandy [Silver] and Premier Pillai have generated within their cabinets.”
Mostyn said to watch for a fresh slate of faces and fresh ideas in the upcoming elections that have yet to be called. He suggested the Official Opposition Yukon Party is outdated.
“There's no collapse here,” Mostyn said.
The Yukon Party has speculated that none of the sitting Liberal ministers will run for MLA again; the Yukon NDP argued it’s a two-party race between the Yukon Party and the Yukon NDP.
“We have a vibrant party. There's a lot of interest,” Mostyn said in defence.
The two ministers fed off the momentum of the federal Liberals and their own local events.
“The [federal] Liberal party was, last December, dead,” Mostyn said, adding that four months later, they won just shy of a majority government.
“I've seen vibrant parties go from majorities to one seat, and I've seen the opposite happen: parties go from one seat to majorities, which is what we did in 2016.”
Streicker pointed out some Yukon Party history.
“Between Premier [Dennis] Fentie and Premier [Darrell] Pasloski, you had one person return in that race. That was MLA [Brad] Cathers,” who sat as an independent from Aug. 28, 2009, to June 29, 2011.
Neither Mostyn nor Streicker committed to seeking another term as MLA or running in the leadership race in discussion with the News.
During a May 9 phone interview, Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon thanked Pillai for his service.
Dixon said that, while the two disagree on areas of politics and policy, he enjoys working with Pillai and wished him and his family all the best.
“He's always been a political adversary, but not an enemy,” Dixon said.
“He's a nice guy. I think he was well intentioned. I think he tried his best.”
When asked if his own party is outdated, Dixon said the Yukon Party will be putting forward an election platform and some candidates with deep experience in the Yukon government and the legislative assembly as well as some new faces.
“We'll try our best to have a diverse team; a team that reflects the territory and a team that's ready to govern and hopefully achieve what we all want, which is a Yukon Party majority government,” he said.
As the current Official Opposition, that’s not where the party wants to be, Dixon added.
“We have a different goal going forward. We want to do better than where we're at right now. So, we certainly have room to improve,” he said.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
