Race for Yukon’s next premier between business insider and former chief

A new premier of Yukon is expected to be chosen by the governing Liberal party on Thursday, leaving the winner with just months to make their mark before a territorial election has to be called.

Yukon Liberals will pick the party’s next leader at a convention in Whitehorse to replaced outgoing premier Ranj Pillai, who announced in May that he would be stepping aside once a successor is chosen.

An election must be held on or before Nov. 3 in the territory that has been governed by the Liberals since 2016.

The leadership race pits party insider and longtime local businessman Mike Pemberton against Doris Bill, the former chief of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation.

Pemberton is chair of the Yukon branch of the federal Liberals and was vice-president of the territorial party before stepping aside to run for party leader.

He said in an interview that one of the biggest issues he’s hearing from Yukon residents is the high cost of living, made worse by the ongoing tariff fight with the United States.

“The cost of living in the North typically is higher because of transportation and not having enough because of our grow season. We don’t have the food security that maybe our counterparts in the South have.”

He said one of the ways to address that would be to adjust the northern living allowance, a federal tax credit provided to those living in remote locations in Canada.

The allowance hasn’t been adjusted for “quite a while,” he said, noting that it also has never been tied to the consumer price index.

“So, this would be one of the easiest ways to offset the higher cost of living in the North. And I’m not talking about just Yukon, because the North is vast.”

Bill was chief for the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, Yukon’s largest First Nation, for three terms from 2014 to 2023 after spending three decades as a journalist for CBC.

She was born in Whitehorse and grew up in permanent government care in Inuvik.

If she is selected as leader, Bill would become both Yukon’s first Indigenous premier and the first to be born in the territory.

She said she doesn’t think about glass ceilings much.

“When I was first elected chief of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, a number of young Indigenous women reached out to me. So, I know what this means, and I’ve heard from them over the course of this campaign, people who are incredibly proud that I’ve even put my name forward,” she said.

“Because you don’t see a lot of Indigenous people putting their name forward to run for — especially the head of a mainstream government.”

Since her term ended as chief, Bill has served as vice-chair to the Yukon Residential Schools Missing Children Project and chair of the Yukon Housing Corporation board.

She said crime and gang violence is a big concern in the territory.

As chief, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation implemented a Community Safety Officer program that was effective in decreasing calls to police and has been used elsewhere in the territory, she said.

“I think that there are things that can be done to augment the program. For instance, we need to focus on training, we need to focus on capacity. These programs also need implementation dollars,” she said.

Pillai was acclaimed as premier when he took the job in 2023, and Pemberton said having a contest for leadership is better for the party.

“Running in a leadership race is a win-win for everybody, for the candidates that are running, for the party, and for the public to see who is going to be the next leader and then the premier,” he said.

A statement from the Liberal party says more than 1,000 people are eligible to vote at the convention.

Eligible voters will be using a ranked preferential ballot and the candidate who receives 50 per cent plus one of the total number of votes will be declared the winner.

Both the opposition Yukon Party and NDP have started rolling out candidates in advance of the territorial election called.

Pemberton said he would likely call the election before the November deadline if he becomes premier.

Bill said there are things that can be accomplished in the next few months.

“I’d like to see what Prime Minister (Mark) Carney is going to do in terms of the housing initiatives, and those are things we can tap into,” she said.

“So, there are some things that we can work on in that small period of time. I wish it was a bit longer, but like I said, it is what it is, and we will move forward.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press