Premier Ranj Pillai hopes to establish new confidence and supply agreement with NDP
CBC
Ranj Pillai, Yukon's new Liberal leader, was officially sworn in as the territory's 10th premier over the weekend. Pillai and his cabinet took the oath of office before Administrator of Yukon Adeline Webber during a public ceremony in Whitehorse on Saturday.
Pillai was the only candidate in the leadership race to replace Sandy Silver.
CBC's Elyn Jones, host of Yukon Morning, spoke with Pillai about his new role as leader of the territory.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
How does it feel for you to be premier now?
There's a number of different emotions. First, I think the weight of the job — it's a huge responsibility. And that started to set in last week and more as we go into this week. Humbled. I mean, this is a significant opportunity to work with so many Yukoners but more to provide service to Yukoners. That's the way I look at the job — it's about service and doing your very best.
There's some nerves because you don't want to let people down. You don't want to let Yukoners down. You don't want to let your cabinet down. You don't want to let the people who supported you down. So yeah, there's a lot of different feelings as we go into week one.
What are some of your priorities that you want to focus on in this job?
Oh, there's so many priorities. I mean ... I believe that the work that we've undertaken has been transformational in the Yukon. First, I think our commitment to reconciliation has been ... the leadership of Premier Silver was significant as well as working alongside Grand Chief Johnston. I think that's work I want to continue on with. I'm looking to meet with First Nation leadership very quickly, and to get a sense of how we continue that work and how we can improve on that work.
Really, from a standpoint of the work of Yukon government, it's about health care, it's about education, and it's about housing. I think our economy's in really good shape. It has been in good shape. I know, there's some headwinds that we're hearing about but overall it's really, I think, those other areas we've improved on but, still there's lots of work to be done.
Why did you want this job? Why do you think you're the right person to be premier of the Yukon?
I've always been dedicated to service, that's what feels right. I mean, there's lots of things, you know, that I'm not very good at and I've always felt good at working on behalf of others and trying to make individuals' or groups of individuals' lives better. And I think this is pretty much, in this country and in this territory, this is one of the most significant callings when you want to do that type of work.
I like to collaborate with other leaders and to decode out a vision and and then to communicate to the folks on that journey with where we're going and how we're going to get there. And I think those are some of the core competencies of the job. Politics and leadership had been a passion my whole life and it felt like at this particular time, it was the right time.
In the swearing in on Saturday, you did not reveal a cabinet shuffle other than Jeanie McLean being made the deputy premier. Why didn't you decide to make some changes in your team?
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