Parties & Leaders

Yukon Liberal Party Leader: Arthur Mitchell

MLA Copperbelt     [ Yukon Liberal Party ]

Arthur Mitchell has faced a steep learning curve in the past two years, vaulting from relative political obscurity to seize the helm of the Yukon Liberal Party and then form the Official Opposition.

Mitchell, 56, was working as a real estate agent when he first dabbled in territorial politics in 2002. He made a low-profile and unsuccessful run to represent the newly formed Whitehorse riding of Copperbelt, but lost to the Yukon Party's Haakon Arntzen.

Many people were surprised three years later when Mitchell boldly entered the Liberal leadership race to challenge Pat Duncan, who served as premier from 2000 until December 2002 when she called an early election that left her majority government with only one seat.

Mitchell beat the political veteran by 54 votes, assuming the top Liberal post in June 2005.

Gains platform with byelection win

It was the first of a string of victories for Mitchell.

He took another run at the Copperbelt riding in a November 2005 byelection, when Arntzen stepped down after being convicted in the sexual assaults of two girls. Mitchell won by more than 170 votes, doubling the Liberal seats in the legislative assembly from one to two.

The victory also gave him an official platform from which to lead and revitalize the Liberal party.

He used it effectively in March after Premier Dennis Fentie and his Yukon Party government tabled the largest budget in the territory's history – at nearly $800 million.

"The government is spent," Mitchell declared. "I think the public confidence is spent. The money is spent and it looks to me like Mr. Fentie is spent."

Leads Liberals to Official Opposition

Mitchell's approach again yielded results later in the spring, when two NDP members of the legislative assembly – Kluane's Gary McRobb and Mayo-Tatchun's Eric Fairclough – left the fold to join the Liberals.

With four seats to the NDP's three, the Liberal party moved up in status to become the Official Opposition in May.

Now Mitchell is preparing for the biggest gamble so far – the general election.

Decades in the North

Although relatively new to Yukon politics, Mitchell is not new to the North. Born and raised in the United States, Mitchell and his wife, Nancy, came to Canada in the 1970s. They bought the Atlin General Store in the small northern B.C. community and spent the next 26 years running it.

Since moving to Whitehorse in the 1990s, Mitchell has worked for the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, as communications director for John Ostashek's Yukon Party government and as a real estate agent with Re/Max.

He served as the alternate chair of the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board. He has also sat on the board of the Yukon Arts Centre and is a former member of the Elijah Smith Elementary School Council.

Alan Greenspan, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, is Mitchell's brother-in-law.

The CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window.