Fewer Liberals to choose from, as Yukon premier appoints new cabinet

Yukon Premier Sandy Silver will announce his new cabinet on Monday, but one thing is already clear — he'll have a new Health minister and Environment minister this time around.

Silver's cabinet will be sworn in late Monday afternoon, exactly three weeks after his majority Liberal government was reduced to a minority in the territorial election.

The swearing-in ceremony at 5:30 p.m. will not be open to the public because of COVID-19 restrictions. It will be live-streamed on the government's Facebook page.

A majority of Silver's previous cabinet was re-elected last month, including former ministers Jeanie McLean, Tracy McPhee, Richard Mostyn, Ranj Pillai and John Streicker. The previous Speaker, Nils Clarke, was also re-elected.

Pauline Frost, however, won't be back. The former minister of Environment, and Health and Social Services, lost her seat in Vuntut Gwitchin to the NDP's Annie Blake.

Liberals Ted Adel and Paolo Galina — backbenchers in Silver's previous government — also lost their seats, further thinning the Liberal ranks. Mayo-Tatchun MLA Jeremy Harper, meanwhile, will be the party's one new face this time around.

Last week, Silver struck a deal with NDP Leader Kate White to keep his Liberal minority government in power until at least January 2023, in exchange for some NDP policy initiatives. But both leaders have said there would be no NDP MLAs in cabinet. 

The agreement between the two parties says that a Liberal MLA will be appointed Speaker, while an NDP MLA will be Deputy Speaker.

Dates for the next sitting of the legislative assembly have not yet been announced.