Yukon New Democratic Party

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Yukon New Democratic Party
Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon
Active territorial party
LeaderKate White
PresidentJan Stick
Founded1978; 46 years ago (1978)
HeadquartersWhitehorse, Yukon
IdeologySocial democracy
Political positionCentre-left
National affiliationNew Democratic Party
ColoursOrange
Seats in Legislature
3 / 19
Website
www.yukonndp.ca

The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; French: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a social-democratic political party in the Yukon territory of Canada.

The Yukon NDP first formed the government of the territory under the leadership of Tony Penikett from 1985 to 1992, and under the leadership of Piers McDonald from 1996 to 2000. The party's current leader is Kate White. The NDP sat as official opposition to the current Yukon Party government in the Yukon Legislative Assembly until May 2006. In the 2006 Yukon election later that year, the three incumbent New Democrat Members of the Legislative Assembly were reelected, but the party failed to win any additional seats and remained in third place behind the five members of the Yukon Liberal Party and the ten member Yukon Party majority government.

In January 2009 the NDP were reduced to two seats: Todd Hardy (Whitehorse Centre) and Steve Cardiff (Mount Lorne), after the Party's third member, John Edzerza, resigned to sit as an independent. Edzerza later rejoined the Yukon Party, for which he had originally been elected in the 2002 Yukon election.

Hardy died in July 2010, reducing the NDP to a single seat. On November 12, a by-election was called for his riding of Whitehorse Centre on December 13, which was won by the Party leader Hanson. Cardiff was killed in a car crash on July 7, 2011, again reducing the party to one seat in the legislature entering the 2011 election.

In the 2011 election the Yukon NDP under Elizabeth Hanson elected six MLAs to form the territory's Official Opposition. The NDP was the only party to see an increase in its share of the popular vote over the 2006 Yukon election. In the 2016 election, the NDP was reduced to two seats and third party status.

In May 2019, Kate White the incumbent MLA for Takhini-Kopper King was acclaimed as the new party leader, replacing Hanson.[1] In the 2021 election the Yukon NDP under White won three seats. On April 23, the incumbent Liberals were sworn in with a minority government.[2] On April 28, the NDP announced that they had entered into a formal confidence and supply agreement with the Liberals.[3]

The Yukon NDP is a territorial section of the federal New Democratic Party.

Leaders of the Yukon NDP[edit]

The following is a list of the Yukon NDP leaders since Yukon introduced political parties provincially in 1978.

Leader Years in Office
1 Fred Berger 1978-1981
2 Tony Penikett 1981-1995
3 Piers McDonald 1995-2000
4 Trevor Harding 2000-2001
5 Eric Fairclough 2001-2002
6 Todd Hardy 2002-2009
7 Elizabeth Hanson 2009–2019
8 Kate White 2019–present

Election results[edit]

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1978 Fred Berger 1,568 20.3
1 / 16
Increase 1 Increase 3rd Third Party
1982 Tony Penikett 3,689 35.4
6 / 16
Increase 5 Increase 2nd Official Opposition
1985 4,335 41.1
8 / 16
Increase 2 Increase 1st Minority Government
1989 5,275 44.9
9 / 16
Increase 1 Steady 1st Majority Government
1992 4,571 35.1
6 / 17
Decrease 3 Decrease 2nd Official Opposition
1996 Piers McDonald 5,774 39.9
11 / 17
Increase 5 Increase 1st Majority Government
2000 4,677 32.8
6 / 17
Decrease 5 Decrease 2nd Official Opposition
2002 Todd Hardy 3,763 26.9
5 / 18
Decrease 1 Steady 2nd Official Opposition
2006 3,197 23.6
3 / 18
Decrease 2 Decrease 3rd Third Party
2011 Elizabeth Hanson 5,154 32.6
6 / 19
Increase 3 Increase 2nd Official Opposition
2016 4,928 26.2
2 / 19
Decrease 4 Decrease 3rd Third Party
2021 Kate White 5,356 28.2
3 / 19
Increase 1 Steady 3rd Liberal minority
with NDP confidence and supply

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Thomson, Nancy (May 6, 2019). "New Yukon NDP leader wants to 'smash expectations and stereotypes'". CBC News. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "Yukon Liberals set to be sworn-in as party aims to form minority government". CTVNews. April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  3. ^ "Yukon Liberals, reduced to minority, embrace the NDP". CBC. 28 April 2021. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.

External links[edit]