Leader Currie Dixon says voters wanted change as Yukon Party wins majority government

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon, then-Minister of Community Services and Minister of the Public Service Commission for the Government of Yukon, speaks in Ottawa, Wednesday, June 22, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon says Yukon voters have opted for change by electing what he calls a “strong Yukon Party majority government.”

Dixon is set to become the Yukon’s first premier born in the territory, a point which he recognized in his speech to supporters Monday night, which he also used to outline priorities.

“They (voters) wanted change to address our housing crisis, they wanted our health-care infrastructure to keep up with our population growth, and our health system to meet the needs of all Yukoners, regardless of what community they live in,” Dixon said in his speech.

He added that Monday’s vote was also a vote for cleaning up the downtown core of Whitehorse, and for changes in the judicial system that hold those who commit crimes accountable.

“They told us to get our economy back on track, to put growth of the private sector at the forefront of our agenda,” Dixon said.

He also acknowledged some “serious challenges ahead,” adding that the next four years will “require some difficult decisions.”

Figures from Elections Yukon late Monday evening show Dixon’s party elected in 14 seats with 52 per cent of the vote, up about 13 per cent from 2021.

The NDP under Kate White, meanwhile, is poised to become the Yukon’s Official Opposition, as her party is elected in six seats with almost 38 per cent of the vote, up about 10 per cent from 2021.

The Yukon Liberals under Premier Mike Pemberton were elected in one seat, with about 10 per cent of the vote, down about 23 per cent compared to 2021.

Pemberton, who became his party’s leader in June, failed his bid to gain a seat in the 21-seat legislature, finishing third in the riding of Whitehorse West.

“The results were not what we hoped for,” Pemberton said in a speech to supporters.

“Yukoners wanted change, and I respect that,” he added in an interview with CBC News.

Pemberton said that he would stay on as leader at least until his party’s annual general meeting in January.

He also tried to find some positives in the outcome, saying that the Yukon Liberals have been in this place before in pointing to the 2016 election, when then-leader Sandy Silver led the party from a near wipe-out in the previous election to a majority government.

“The sky is not falling,” Pemberton said.

NDP Leader Kate White, meanwhile, promised that her party would keep the future government of premier-designate Dixon accountable.

White, whose party had supported the outgoing Liberal minority government under a confidence-and-supply agreement, said she is excited about going from being the third party to the Official Opposition.

White said Dixon’s incoming government has made a series of promises, and her party’s role is to make sure that it delivers on them as Yukon residents struggle with affordability and other issues.

“We won’t stop working for Yukoners,” she said.

Unofficial figures peg turnout at 53 per cent, down from 65.5 per cent in 2021 and 76.3 per cent in 2016.

It is the first territorial election with 21 ridings, with 15 of them having new boundaries. But the Liberals were only able to find 18 candidates to go up against full slates from the NDP and Yukon Party.

None of the Yukon Liberals’ cabinet ministers sought re-election this year, leaving former Speaker Jeremy Harper as the only incumbent Liberal on the ballot, but he finished second in the riding of Mayo-Tatchun.

Yukoners were also asked to vote in a non-binding plebiscite on whether to change the current first-past-the-post electoral system to ranked ballots. It is the first territorial plebiscite in the Yukon in more than a century.

Unofficial results show the yes-side favouring the ranked ballot system winning with 56.1 per cent of the vote.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2025.