We are finishing our look at the first five premiers of the Yukon today with the life of Piers McDonald.
Piers McDonald was born on Aug. 4, 1955.
As a student at Queen’s University, he played football and was one of the better players at the university. When he was 20, he moved to the Yukon to work at a silver mine.
For the next several years, he worked as an underground miner and labour leader. Once while working in a mine he fell six metres down a mine shaft and injured his back. Back problems would plague him for decades after.
Before politics, he was the vice-president of the Yukon Federation of Labour.
In 1982, as a member of the NDP in the Mayo Riding, McDonald was elected to the Yukon Legislature. He took more than half the vote, defeating Swede Hanson, the incumbent Progressive Conservative candidate.
When the NDP won the 1985 election, McDonald was re-elected in his riding.
During the NDP’s time in power, he served as the Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Transport Services and Minister of the Yukon Housing Corporation.
One part of his work during this time was the creation of the Yukon College and the establishing of the Yukon Arts Centre and the Whitehorse Public Library.
In cabinet, he also opened and paved the South Klondike Highway, the transferring of municipal airports and the Alaska Highway to the Yukon Government and the establishment of the first home ownership program in the territory.
In 1989, McDonald was re-elected.
In his second term as a member of the ruling party he was the Government House Leader, Minister of Education, Minister of Government Services, Minister of Economic Development Mines and Small Business and Minister of the Public Service Commission.
In this term in government, he oversaw the creation of the Yukon’s Education Act, and the Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Act.
McDonald reached an agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories on oil and gas trade. He also reached an economic development agreement with the Government of Canada.
In the public school system, he established policies relating to busing, special needs, experiential learning and computers. Under his mandate as Minister of Education, the only French First Language school in the territory was established.
When the NDP lost the 1992 election, McDonald was able to win his riding.
Following the resignation of Tony Penikett as leader of the NDP, McDonald succeeded him as leader.
Heading into the 1996 election, those around McDonald implored him to purchase suits rather than wear his tweed sports jacket with elbow patches. He refused to do so. He had served three terms with that jacket, he was not about to change for a fourth term. He said,
“If its boring, that’s fine.”
The National Post wrote of him,
“He’s been known to address the party faithful in sweat pants and a T-shirt, and if you bump into him in, say the video store, he’s as likely to ask you for advice on movie selection as on education reform.”
While serving as Opposition Leader, Willard Phelps with the Yukon Party launched into an attack on him accusing McDonald of profiting from land deals along the Yukon River waterfront when he was finance minister in the 1980s. An inquiry was called and former BC Premier Bill Van Der Zalm was brought in to investigate.
McDonald was cleared of everything, with no hint of conflict-of-interest, but the territorial government was ordered to pay his legal costs as restitution. Phelps resigned shortly after amid his own scandal.
McDonald called it the low point of his political career and stated it was a mean-spirited and vindictive attack.
On Sept. 30, 1996, McDonald and the NDP elected with a majority government. His party was able to capture 11 seats, the largest majority in the history of the Yukon. The 11 seats won by the party was the most in a Yukon election since 1978, and it would not be exceeded until 2002.
He said,
“Many good people are going to stand together and ensure good government returns to Yukon. We have committed to work with labor and business to put Yukon people first and to ensure that Yukoners will work where work is available.”
Upon election, McDonald said his first order of business was, in his words, breathing life into the land claims agreement.”
As premier, he continued work on land claims with the First Nations. He also emphasized the importance of intergovernmental and circumpolar relations.
His government established new community schools, territorial parks and took steps to create new strategies related to protected areas, trade and restorative justice.
McDonald’s government was able to establish a $60 million budget surplus. His government also promoted social programs and protecting the environment.
Unfortunately, there was a decline in the economy due to low metal prices and the closure of several mines. Roughly one in ten people from the Yukon left to find work elsewhere.
In the 2000 election, the NDP lost to the Liberals. The party finished with six seats, down by five from the previous election. The Liberals gained seven to finish with 10. In the election, McDonald lost his own seat. Thus ended his 18 years as a member of the Legislature. He lost in his riding by only 40 votes. He said,
“I can tell you, the time that I Have spent in the Legislature has been the most exciting of my life. I know we’re going to make a very effective opposition.
On April 27, 2000, McDonald resigned as leader of the NDP. Over the course of his time as an MLA, he held 10 different portfolios.
The Whitehorse Daily Star wrote of him,
“Tough held in high esteem by those he worked with, McDonald was simultaneously criticized for allowing some of his, shall we say, spirited ministers extraordinary long leashes in both policy and profile.”
At the time of his resignation, only one MP, Trevor Harding, predated the 1996 election victory and he took over as leader of the party.
Harding said of the man he replaced,
“He amazes me, most of the time, for his calmness and deliberate thinking. He is one of the toughest people I’ve ever met, both physically and mentally.”
After he left politics, McDonald became a founding member of Northern Vision Development, and was the chief executive officer from 2004 to 2009.
In 2007, he served as the volunteer president of the Canada Winter Games Host Society in Whitehorse.
One year later, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Northwestel. That same year, he was awarded the Order of Canada.
In 2016, McDonald became the Chancellor of Yukon University, serving until 2020.
McDonald remains the last NDP premier of the Yukon as the party, to date, has not won another election since 1996.
