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 ministerand 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 ceremonyat 5:30 p.m. will not be open to the public because of COVID-19 restrictions. It willbe 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, andHealth and Social Services, lost her seat in Vuntut Gwitchinto 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 MLAJeremy 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 hisLiberal minority governmentin power until at least January 2023, in exchange for some NDPpolicy initiatives.But both leaders have saidthere would be no NDP MLAsincabinet.

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

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