Willard Phelps

Willard Leroy Phelps (born October 23, 1941 in Vancouver , British Columbia ) is a Canadian politician .

biography

Phelps began his political career in 1974 with the election of a member of the Yukon Territorial Council (Yukon Territorial Council), whose deputy spokesman and chairman he was later. After the granting of self-government law, however, he did not run in 1978 for election as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Yukon (Yukon Legislative Assembly).

In early March 1985 he was elected as the successor to Chris Pearson as chairman of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (YPCP) and on March 20, 1985 his successor as the list of Prime Ministers of Yukon . From this office, however, he was forced to resign on May 29, 1985, after the YPCP the proclaimed by him early elections on May 13, 1985 against the Yukon New Democratic Party of Tony Penikett lost because previously a conflict of interest over to him belonging land in the Capital Whitehorse became known.

Nevertheless he remained chairman of the YPCP and leader of the opposition until 1991 . In 1991 he first announced his retirement from political life.

In the elections for the Legislative Assembly on October 19, 1992, he decided at short notice to run as a non-party and was elected to one of three independent members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly. As such, however, he supported the minority government of Prime Minister John Ostashek and was therefore appointed Minister of Health, Social Services, and Justice to Yukon Energy Corp. as well as the Yukon Development Corp. appointed. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he became Minister of Education in 1994 and retained the offices of Minister of Health and Social Affairs.

In March 1996 a scandal broke out after a former friend published a speech he had given two weeks earlier in a bar in Carcross while he was drunk . In that speech, Phelps called the chairman of the regional planning advisory committee of Carcross (Carcross Area Advisory Planning Committee) and Chief (Chief) of the Carcross / Tagish First Nation , Bill Hensley, a liar and insulted several members of the advisory committee. He also stated in that speech that he would vote against any government that would approve funds for Carcross.

Although Phelps apologized for his remarks in the Legislative Assembly, Ostashek described the derailments as a serious matter and wanted Phelps to be fired. Phelps, however, anticipated this dismissal by offering his resignation, which Ostashek then accepted.

In the elections to the legislative assembly on September 30, 1996, he ran again as an independent, but was not re-elected.

Web links

• rulers.org