Social Democrats in the Yukon

The Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 began a pattern of uneven economic development that continues nearly a century later in the Yukon, that vast, mountainous territory in the northwest corner of Canada. The discovery of an untapped resource creates fabulous wealth for a few, while luring and then abandoning thousands of workers.

“We have more ghost towns than living communities” is how Yukon Premier Tony Penikett sums up his territory’s chronic boom-and-bust economy. ̶...