John Edzerza

John Edzerza (August 14, 1948 – November 25, 2011) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of McIntyre-Takhini in the Yukon Legislative Assembly.

John Edzerza
Minister of the Environment
In office February 4, 2010 – November 5, 2011
Premier	Dennis Fentie Darrell Pasloski
Preceded by	Elaine Taylor
Succeeded by	Currie Dixon
Minister of Education
In office November 30, 2002 – August 2, 2006
Premier	Dennis Fentie
Preceded by	Cynthia Tucker
Succeeded by	Elaine Taylor
Minister of Justice
In office July 12, 2004 – August 2, 2006
Premier	Dennis Fentie
Preceded by	Elaine Taylor
Succeeded by	Elaine Taylor
Minister of the Public Service Commission
In office November 30, 2002 – July 12, 2004
Premier	Dennis Fentie
Preceded by	Pam Buckway
Succeeded by	Elaine Taylor
MLA for McIntyre-Takhini
In office November 4, 2002 – October 11, 2011
Preceded by	Wayne Jim
Succeeded by	Constituency dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1948-08-14)August 14, 1948 Lower Post, British Columbia
Died	November 25, 2011(2011-11-25) (aged 63) Whitehorse, Yukon
Political party	Yukon Party (2000-2006) Independent (2006) New Democrat (2006-2009) Independent (2009-2010) Yukon Party (2010-2011)
Residence	Whitehorse, Yukon

Political career

Born in British Columbia in 1948,^[1] he first entered politics in 2002 as a Yukon Party MLA, and served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Education in Dennis Fentie's cabinet.

After disagreeing with a number of government decisions in early 2006, he resigned from the Yukon Party on August 2, 2006, to sit as an independent MLA, and recontested his seat in that fall's territorial election as a candidate of the Yukon New Democratic Party. He was re-elected, and served in the NDP caucus under Todd Hardy until January 2009, when he resigned from the NDP to sit again as an independent.^[2] He rejoined the Yukon Party on October 22, 2009,^[3] and served as Minister of the Environment until retiring in 2011.^[4] Edzerza died of leukemia on November 25, 2011.^[5][6]

Electoral record

Yukon general election, 2006

McIntyre-Takhini

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NDP	John Edzerza	336	38.8%	+7.0%
	Liberal	Ed Schultz	328	37.9%	+15.4%
	Yukon Party	Vicki Durrant	201	23.2%	-6.6%
Total			865	100.0%	–

Yukon general election, 2002

McIntyre-Takhini

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Yukon Party	John Edzerza	288	31.8%	+4.7%
	NDP	Maureen Stephens	270	29.8%	-4.7%
	Liberal	Judy Gingell	204	22.5%	-15.9%
	Independent	Wayne Jim	129	14.2%	+14.2%
	Independent	Geoffrey Capp	15	1.7%	+1.7%
Total			906	100.0%	–

Yukon general election, 2000

McIntyre-Takhini

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wayne Jim	376	38.4%	+18.1%
	NDP	Piers McDonald	338	34.5%	-14.8%
	Yukon Party	John Edzerza	265	27.1%	-0.9%
Total			979	100.0%	–