1978 Yukon general election

The 1978 Yukon general election (28th general election), held on November 20, 1978, was the first conventional legislative election in the history of Canada's Yukon Territory. Prior elections were held to elect representatives to the 24th Yukon Territorial Council, a non-partisan body that acted in an advisory role to the Commissioner of the Yukon. Following the passage of the Yukon Elections Act in 1977, the 1978 election was the first time that voters in the Yukon elected representatives to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in an election organized along political party lines.

1978 Yukon general election

November 20, 1978
16 seats of the Yukon Legislative Assembly 8 seats were needed for a majority
PC Lib NDP Leader Hilda Watson Iain MacKay Fred Berger Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader's seat Kluane (lost re-election) Ran in Whitehorse Riverdale South (won) Klondike (lost re-election) Seats won 11 2 1 Popular vote 2,869 2,201 1,568 Percentage 37.10% 28.46% 20.27%
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Riding names are listed at the bottom.
Premier before election None (position established) Premier after election Chris Pearson Progressive Conservative

Hilda Watson, the first woman ever to lead a political party into an election in Canada, was the leader of the Progressive Conservatives. Although the party won the election, Watson herself was defeated in Kluane by Liberal candidate Alice McGuire, and thus did not become government leader. The position of government leader instead went to Chris Pearson.

New Democratic leader Fred Berger was also defeated in his own riding. He remained leader of the party until 1981, when he was succeeded by the party's sole elected MLA, Tony Penikett. Under Penikett's leadership, an MLA who had been elected as an independent in 1978 joined the NDP, and the party won a by-election. With its caucus increased to three members, the NDP had thus supplanted the Liberals as the official opposition by the time of the 1982 election.

Results by party

Party	Party Leader	# of cands	Seats
			Before	After	% of vote
Progressive Conservative	Hilda Watson	15		11	37.10
Liberal	Iain MacKay	14		2	28.46
Independent		9	16	2	14.17
NDP	Fred Berger	14		1	20.27
Total		52	16	16

Results by riding

Electoral District	Candidates									Incumbent
		PC		Liberal		NDP		Other
Campbell		Don McIntosh 61		Blake Stirling Macdonald 120		Margaret Thomson 65		Robert Fleming 184		new district
Faro		no candidate		no candidate		Stuart McCall 231		Maurice Byblow 361		new district
Hootalinqua		Al Falle 209		Mike Laforet 83		Max Fraser 159		Mack Henry 44		Robert Fleming
Klondike		Meg McCall 152		no candidate		Fred Berger 130		Eleanor Millard 114		Fred Berger
Kluane		Hilda Watson 150		Alice McGuire 188		no candidate		John Livesey 49		Hilda Watson
Mayo		Swede Hanson 95		Gordon McIntyre 84		Alan McDiarmid 82		David Harwood 85		Gordon McIntyre
Old Crow		Grafton Njootli 62		Edith Tizya 29		Robert Bruce 19				new district
Tatchun		Howard Tracey 109		Hugh Netzel 71		Jerry Roberts 83				new district
Watson Lake		Don Taylor 226		Grant Taylor 188		no candidate				Don Taylor
Whitehorse North Centre		Geoff Lattin 153		Dermot Flynn 83		Doug Stephenson 131		Ken McKinnon 141		Ken McKinnon
Whitehorse Porter Creek East		Dan Lang 322		Bill Webber 202		Paul Warner 84				new district
Whitehorse Porter Creek West		Doug Graham 188		Clive Tanner 142		Kathy Horton 60				new district
Whitehorse Riverdale North		Chris Pearson 358		Richard Rotondo 194		Dave Dornian 59				new district
Whitehorse Riverdale South		Margaret Heath 354		Iain MacKay 420		Jim McCullough 113				new district
Whitehorse South Centre		Jack Hibberd 245		Bert Law 197		Ken Krocker 122				Jack Hibberd
Whitehorse West		Anthony Fekete 185		John Watt 200		Tony Penikett 230		Al Omotani 81 Guy Julien 37		Flo Whyard

Member changes

Liberal leader Iain MacKay resigned the party leadership and his seat in the legislature in 1980, and was succeeded in both roles by Ron Veale.[1]

Following Penikett's accession to the leadership of the NDP in 1981, Maurice Byblow, elected as an independent, joined the party.

Jack Hibberd resigned his seat in the legislature on April 15, 1981, after accepting a position as a surgical consultant with a hospital outside of the Yukon. The resulting by-election, held on October 13, was won by New Democrat Roger Kimmerly. Now holding three seats in the legislature, the NDP replaced the Liberals as the Official Opposition.[2]

Robert Fleming joined the Progressive Conservative Party in 1982.

Administrative changes

After the election, four of the elected members in the Progressive Conservative Party, including Chris Pearson, were added to the Executive Committee headed by Commissioner Art Pearson. In October 1979, at the instruction of Jake Epp, minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Commissioner withdrew from direct government administration; Chris Pearson became government leader (equal to premier), added a fifth member of the party caucus, and formed the Executive Council (cabinet), the beginning of responsible government with an elected head of government. Art Pearson resigned as commissioner in protest and was replaced with a new appointee.

References

1. "Byelections". CPA Activities: The Canadian Scene, Vol. 4, No. 2.
2. "NDP's by-election win makes it Opposition". The Globe and Mail, October 15, 1981.