Ranj Pillai
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Adeline Webber
Ranj Pillai | |
|---|---|
.png) Pillai in 2022 | |
| 10th Premier of Yukon | |
| In office January 14, 2023 – June 27, 2025 | |
| Deputy | Jeanie McLean |
| Commissioner | Angélique Bernard Adeline Webber |
| Preceded by | Sandy Silver |
| Succeeded by | Mike Pemberton |
| Leader of the Yukon Liberal Party | |
| In office January 9, 2023 – June 19, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Sandy Silver |
| Succeeded by | Mike Pemberton |
| Deputy Premier Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources | |
| In office December 3, 2016 – January 14, 2023 | |
| Premier | Sandy Silver |
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | Jeanie McLean (as Deputy Premier) John Streicker (as Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources) |
| Member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly for Porter Creek South | |
| In office November 7, 2016 – October 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Nixon |
| Succeeded by | Adam Gerle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 1974 (age 52)[1] |
| Party | Yukon Liberal |
Ranj Pillai (born January 1974) is a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Yukon and leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 2023 to 2025.[3][4] He represented the electoral district of Porter Creek South in the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, to which he was first elected in the 2016 election.[5]
Ranj was born in Inverness, Nova Scotia. He grew up in Brook Village and Inverness before moving to Antigonish to complete his high school diploma.[6] His father, Gopi (N.G.) Pillai, is a retired Indian doctor from Kerala[7] and his mother, Johnena Lee, is a retired nurse.[8]
Political career
Pillai sat as a Whitehorse City Councillor from 2009 to 2012.[9] While on council, he helped bring Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada to Whitehorse and was awarded the 2011 Yukon Tourism Champion Award for his efforts.[10]
Pillai was also the executive director of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, and has held roles with Northern Vision Development and Yukon College.[11]
On December 3, 2016, Pillai was sworn into the Cabinet of Premier Sandy Silver as Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, and Economic Development. He is also the Minister responsible for Yukon Development Corporation and the Yukon Energy Corporation.[12]
On November 25, 2022, following Sandy Silver's resignation as Liberal leader pending the election of a successor, Pillai announced his candidacy for leader of the Yukon Liberal Party.[13] He was acclaimed party leader in January 2023 because there were no other candidates in the race, thus becoming the premier–designate.[4] He is the second Indo-Canadian to become premier of a province or territory, after Ujjal Dosanjh in British Columbia.[14] He was sworn in as premier on January 14.[3]
He declined to lead the party into the 2025 Yukon general election, announcing his decision to resign as party leader, upon the selection of his successor, and not seek re-election as an MLA, on May 7, 2025.[15] Businessman Mike Pemberton was elected to succeed him in June. Pillai retained his roles as Minister of Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation in Pemberton's cabinet, having held those roles in Silver's cabinet.[12][16]
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