After Chris Pearson resigned as Premier of the Yukon, he was replaced by Willard Leroy Phelps.
Williard Phelps was born on Oct. 23, 1941 in Vancouver. His grandfather was Willard Phelps, who was a member of the Yukon Territorial Council from 1909 to 1920, 1925 to 1934 and 1940 to 1943. He was also the owner and manager of the first hydroelectric company in the Yukon. His father also served as a councillor with the Whitehorse Council. His grandfather also owned Yukon Electrical, and his father worked for the business. That business was located in the building that Phelps made his law practice later in life.
In 1968, Phelps graduated with a law degree from the University of British Columbia. For the next few years he worked as a lawyer in Whitehorse, and served on the Downtown Whitehorse Business Association. He also served with the Yukon Housing Corporation.
In 1974, Phelps was elected to the Yukon Territorial Council, about 450 votes, with his next closest competitor Don Branigan nearly 100 votes behind. He campaigned on the Yukon moving towards provincial status, and no conditions imposed on new mines to control the life spans of those mines. He also wanted mineral development with good environmental controls.
In February 1975, a move to reverse the election result and call a byelection was put forward after Don Branigan filed a court injunction. Branigan stated that the government was renting space in Phelps’ commercial real estate holdings for some of its liquor stores, which created a conflict of interest.
Under the law, no candidate was allowed to seek office if they were holding or enjoying a contract with the government. Since Phelps was a partner in a firm that had a contract, many felt the decision to overturn the election result was justified.
At first, the application to overturn the election result was dismissed on technical grounds that it did not stand up. Soon after, Justice William Morrow of the Supreme Court decided to hear the case, despite this dismissal.
In March 1975, Justice Morrow upheld the dismissal stating that it was clear in the contract that no money would change hands until Jan. 1, 1976.
In April 1975, Branigan filed an appeal of Justice Morrow’s decision. In June of that year, a three-member court of appeal overturned the Morrow decision and the election was reversed and a by-election was called.
Phelps said,
“You win some, you lose some. I think tonight I might just have a couple of drinks and meditate.”
Branigan, despite reversing the election result, didn’t know if he was going to run in the byelection. He said,
“I really can’t commit myself on it right now. I have to discuss the matter with my wife.”
In the end, Branigan did run for the seat, against Walt Lengerke. Branigan lost the by-election, with Lengerke taking 58 per cent of the vote. Branigan did receive 35 more votes than he did in the previous election though.
For the next few years, Phelps worked as a lawyer in Whitehorse. He continued to assist the party, and served on various riding committees and attended Progressive Conservative conventions.
He also served as the government’s land claim negotiator during this time. The Whitehorse Daily Star said of him,
“The Yukon government’s native land claims negotiator, Willard Phelps, has never been noted as a conservationist’s conservationist. He’s more of a free enterpriser, a man who might refer to the majestic St. Elias Mountains as overburden.”
Phelps did not run for election in the Yukon Legislative Assembly in 1978 nor 1982.
After Chris Pearson resigned, the Progressive Conservatives chose Phelps to serve as the second premier of the province.
He became the premier, or government leader, on March 23, 1985.
Just over two months later in the 1985 election, the Yukon NDP won with eight seats, while the Progressive Conservatives fell to six seats. The Liberals won two seats.
Phelps was able to win his seat in the election and served as the Leader of the Opposition.
Phelps’ time as the Leader of the Opposition ended in 1991 when the Progressive Conservatives became the Yukon Party. He became an Independent Alliance MLA, but also sat in the party’s new caucus.
In 1992, the Yukon Party won the territorial election and came to power for the first time under its new name.
In the government, Phelps became the Minister of Justice and Minister of Health and Social Services.
As the Minister of Social Services, he brought in welfare reform through the hiring of private investigators to look into welfare recipients. He also pushed the government to privatize the energy concerns of the government.
In 1994, Phelps became the Minister of Education, and dropped the Justice portfolio.
In 1996, Phelps resigned from his cabinet positions.
In the 1996 election, he ran for re-election but did not win.
Phelps eventually became the Chair of Yukon Energy, but he resigned from that position in 2009 in protest of the plans by the government of Premier Dennis Fentie to sell off the utility assets to ATCO.
Phelps said,
“We have fundamental differences with Government of Yukon regarding the value, the role and the governance of these Corporations. We also disagree on issues concerning the role of the boards. For these and other reasons, we find it impossible to continue to perform in a manner that fulfills the responsibilities and obligations that these positions require.”
In his criticism of Fentie, Phelps called him a tin-pot dictator. He then staged a convention that brought together over 100 people including the Grand Chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations.
In 2009, Phelps formed the United Citizens Party of Yukon.
Shortly after, while in a Superstore in Whitehorse in May 2010, Phelps slipped on a bottle of Coke, breaking his leg. It resulted in six months of recovery that seriously hampered the plans to grow his new party.
He remained the party leader until 2011 but resigned after the party failed to yield any candidates.
He said at the time,
“I’m getting older. It means a tremendous lifestyle change for my wife and I.”
