# 1978 Yukon general election

The 1978 Yukon general election was 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 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.
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

Summary of the 1978 Legislative Assembly of Yukon election results :
| Party | Party | Party leader | Candidates | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats | Popular vote | Popular vote | Popular vote |
| Party | Party | Party leader | Candidates | 1974 | Dissol. | 1978 | Change | # | % | Change |
| | Progressive Conservative | Hilda Watson | 15 | 0 | 0 | 11 | +11 | 2,869 | 37.10% | N/A |
| | Liberal | Iain MacKay | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 2,201 | 28.46% | N/A |
| | Independent | Independent | 9 | 12 | 12 | 2 | -10 | 1,096 | 14.17% | N/A |
| | New Democratic | Fred Berger | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 1,568 | 20.27% | N/A |
| Total | Total | Total | 52 | 12 | 12 | 16 | +4 | 7,734 | 100.00% | |
Popular vote
Progressive Conservative
37.10%
Liberal
28.46%
New Democratic
20.27%
Independent
14.17% :
Seats summary
Progressive Conservative
68.75%
Liberal
12.50%
Independent
12.50%
New Democratic
6.25% :

## Incumbents not Running for Reelection

The following MLAs had announced that they would not be running in the 1978 election:
Independent
* Flo Whyard (Whitehorse West)
* Willard Phelps (Whitehorse Riverdale)

## Results by Riding

Bold indicates party leaders † - denotes a retiring incumbent MLA
| Electoral district | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Incumbent |
| Electoral district | PC | PC | Liberal | Liberal | NDP | NDP | Independent | Independent | Incumbent | Incumbent |
| Campbell | | Don McIntosh 61 | | Blake Stirling Macdonald 120 | | Margaret Thomson 65 | | Robert Fleming 184 | New District |
| Faro | | | | | | 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 | | | | Fred Berger 130 | | Eleanor Millard 114 | Fred Berger |
| Kluane | | Hilda Watson 150 | | Alice McGuire 188 | | | | 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 | | | | | 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† |

## Aftermath

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, Federal 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 PC Party caucus, and formed the Executive Council of Yukon, thus beginning responsible government with an elected head of government in The Yukon. Art Pearson would later resign as Commissioner after pleading guilty to charges related to improper mining claim transfers and was replaced with Frank Fingland.