Parties & Leaders

Yukon Party Leader: Dennis Fentie

MLA Watson Lake     [ Yukon Party ]

Going into the campaign, the 2006 election seemed to be Yukon Party Leader Dennis Fentie's to lose.

After being sworn in as premier in November 2002, Fentie has had millions of dollars from Ottawa to dole out to an always hungry electorate. Rising commodity prices have sparked new interest in the territory's non-renewable resources. There are more jobs than workers to fill them these days and real-estate prices are at an all-time high.

That's not to mention the two proposed multibillion-dollar mega-projects that lie on the horizon – the Alaska Highway Natural Gas Pipeline and the proposed rail link between British Columbia and Alaska.

Now the question is will Yukoners, despite the good economic times, put their trust in this 55-year-old former truck driver for a second term? They have not re-elected a government since 1989.

First ran as New Democrat

Fentie worked for many years as a businessman in logging, tourism, mining, trucking and fuel distribution, including owning and managing Francis River Construction Ltd. in Watson Lake. He also acted as director of the Association for Yukon Forests and director of the Watson Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Fentie was first elected as the MLA for his hometown riding of Watson Lake in 1996 under the NDP banner.

Although he did not make the cut for a seat at Premier Piers McDonald's cabinet table, he was appointed forestry commissioner and given the job of developing a forest strategy.

Re-elected in 2000, again as an NDP candidate, Fentie thrived in opposition, becoming extremely adept at rattling the Liberal government's cage.

Leads Yukon Party into government

Two years later, he crossed the floor to join the right-wing Yukon Party and within weeks had been elected its new leader. It was a shrewd move.

When the election was called that fall, Fentie led the party to a solid majority victory, winning 12 of the 18 seats in the territory.

News that he had been jailed in the 1970s on a narcotics charge, which had filtered out during the campaign, did not seem to make any difference to the electorate. He didn't elaborate and nobody pushed it.

It was not until a year into his mandate the public learned the narcotic was heroin and the jail time was four years in a penitentiary for his involvement in an Edmonton trafficking ring.

Unapologetic, Fentie instead turned on the media, chastising them for publicizing the details of his criminal past for which he had received a pardon.

Although his party and caucus stood behind him through the difficult period, it marked the end of his honeymoon, such as it was, with the press and the public.

Loses three MLAs – and majority

Since taking office, Fentie's majority has slowly slipped away, losing three MLAs since 2002.

Copperbelt MLA Haakon Arntzen resigned after facing sexual assault charges and Klondike MLA Peter Jenkins was ousted after refusing to repay a government loan.

Then McIntyre-Takhini MLA John Edzerza, the only First Nations person in the cabinet, resigned on Aug. 3, 2006, to sit as an Independent – leaving Fentie without a majority. Edzerza said he would run for the NDP in the future.

When Fentie took power in 2002, his message and his mission seemed clear: "The Number One issue we heard on the doorsteps was to fix the economy," he said on his first day in office.

Although few will argue the economy has improved, what remains a matter for debate is whether Fentie deserves the credit for the Yukon's improved fortunes.

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