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Liberals crushed as Yukon Party wins stunning upset

Dennis Fentie and his conservative Yukon Party swept to power in the territorial election on Nov. 4, 2002, winning a majority of the 18 seats and almost wiping Pat Duncan's incumbent Liberals off the political map.

Only Duncan herself – who called the election on Oct. 4, 2002, just two years after the Liberals won a 10 of the legislature's then-17 seats – survived the electorate's massive shift to the right.

By the time the polls closed, the Yukon Party had captured 12 seats and the New Democrats had gained one seat, forming the Official Opposition with five seats. In riding after riding, Liberal cabinet ministers and high-profile candidates were swept out of office.

"This is not the result we had all hoped and we had all worked for," Duncan, looking pale and shaken by the magnitude of the defeat, told reporters after her concession speech.

Snap election angered electorate

Both the public and analysts said voters were angry at the Liberals for holding a snap election and forcing them to return to the polls so soon. In the six years that preceded the election, all three parties had been in government.

The election call gave a month's notice to Duncan's opponents, who were both new to their leadership posts. The New Democrat leader, Todd Hardy, had been elected only two weeks before the call, while Fentie left the NDP caucus in May and was chosen to lead the Yukon Party in June.

When Duncan called the election, she said she was looking for "certainty, plain and simple" after three of her MLAs left to sit as Independents. The defections, accompanied by complaints that Duncan's leadership style was heavy-handed and secretive, left her with a minority government.

As many as 1 in 2 voters undecided

During the campaign, Duncan stuck to the theme of "certainty," which for her meant settling outstanding First Nations land claims and completing the transfer of control over natural resources to the territorial government from Ottawa.

The New Democrats and the Yukon Party, for their parts, concentrated on reviving the sagging economy and creating jobs. They also tried to capitalize on controversy over the revelation that the Liberals had awarded about $500,000-worth of government contracts to three men who then ran as candidates for the party.

The 2002 election marked the first time that all parties had fielded candidates in all the ridings since party politics were introduced in the Yukon in 1978. It also saw a record 60 candidates, including six Independents.

During the short campaign, the race was so tight that one public opinion survey suggested as many as 48 per cent of voters hadn't decided which way to cast their ballots. Another survey, taken only a week before election day, found more than a third of voters had yet to make up their minds.

Territory picks 1st rural premier

But voters made their decisions clear on Nov. 4.

They not only delivered a stunning upset that returned the Yukon Party to government five years after it was almost obliterated in the 1996 general election. They also turned the tables by electing the territory's first premier from rural Yukon – two years after electing a Liberal government whose seats were all in the capital city region, with no rural representation.

A victorious Fentie – the MLA for Watson Lake – promised that his party would try to change the often-fractious nature of the territory's politics.

"It means we move away from confrontation and conflict, towards collaboration and consensus," Fentie said.

"It begins with our first nations in our territory, who will now be participating in the decision-making in the government of the Yukon."

NDP also gains

It was a disappointing night for independent candidates. Five candidates tried to convince the electorate to reject party politics, but none made it into the legislature.

However, it could be seen as a major victory for the NDP, which had just come out of a divisive leadership race two weeks. As well, Hardy managed to win his seat in a hotly contested race in Whitehorse Centre.

The party could have floundered, but instead held on to its Official Opposition status and even gained a seat.

Hardy said the Yukon Party should learn a lesson from the Duncan Liberals' defeat.

"This is a warning to the Yukon Party that you better listen to all the people of this territory," he said. "If you don't, they'll throw you out."

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