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The Honourable
Ranj Pillai
MLA
The Honourable Ranj Pillai MLA
	Pillai in 2022
10th Premier of Yukon
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 14, 2023
Deputy	Jeanie McLean
Commissioner	Angélique Bernard; Adeline Webber
Preceded by	Sandy Silver
Leader of the Yukon Liberal Party
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 9, 2023
Preceded by	Sandy Silver
Deputy Premier; Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources
	In office; December 3, 2016 – January 14, 2023
Premier	Sandy Silver
Preceded by	Elaine Taylor; Scott Kent;
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
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; November 7, 2016
Preceded by	Mike Nixon
Personal details
Born	January 1974 (age 50); Nova Scotia
Political party	Yukon Liberal Party
Residence	Whitehorse, Yukon

Ranj Pillai (born January 1974) is a Canadian politician, who has been the tenth premier of Yukon since January 14, 2023^[2] and leader of the Yukon Liberal Party since January 9, 2023.^[3] He represents the electoral district of Porter Creek South in the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, to which he was first elected in the 2016 election.^[4]

Early life

Ranj was born in Nova Scotia. He grew up in Brook Village and Inverness before moving to Antigonish to complete his high school diploma.^[5] His father, Gopi (N.G.) Pillai, is a retired Indian-Malayali^{[failed verification]} doctor in Inverness and his mother, Johnena Lee, is a retired nurse.^[6]

Career

Pillai sat as a Whitehorse City Councillor from 2009 to 2012.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9]

Pillai was also the executive director of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, and has held senior roles with Northern Vision Development and Yukon College.^[10]

On November 25, 2022, Pillai announced his candidacy for leader of the Yukon Liberal Party.^[11] He was acclaimed party leader in January 2023 because there were no other candidates in the race, thus becoming the premier–designate.^[3] He is the second Indo-Canadian to become premier of a province or territory, after Ujjal Dosanjh in British Columbia.^[12] He was sworn in as premier on January 14.^[2]

Personal life

Pillai is married and has two children.^[13]

Electoral record

v t e 2021 Yukon general election: Porter Creek South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ranj Pillai	309	47.17	+0.6%
	Yukon Party	Chad Sjodin	262	40	+0.6%
	New Democratic	Colette Acheson	84	12.82	-1.3%
Total valid votes			655
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Eligible voters
	Liberal hold		Swing		-17.18
Source(s) "Unofficial Election Results 2021". Elections Yukon. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

Yukon general election, 2016

Porter Creek South^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ranj Pillai	337	46.6%	+6.0%
	Yukon Party	Mike Nixon	285	39.4%	-3.5%
	NDP	Shirley Chua-Tan	102	14.1%	-2.4%
Total			724	100.0%	–

Whitehorse municipal election, 2009

Candidate	Votes	%
Whitehorse municipal election, 2009^[7]
Doug Graham	2,678	13.1%
Ranj Pillai	2,422	11.8%
Betty Irwin	2,001	9.8%
Dave Stockdale	1,986	9.7%
Florence Roberts	1,794	8.8%
Dave Austin	1,750	8.5%
Jeanine Myhre	1,459	7.1%
Ron Swizdaryk	1,450	7.1%
Graham Lang	1,395	6.8%
Skeeter Miller-Wright	1,370	6.7%
Janet Brault	1,163	5.7%
Michael Buurman	1,021	5.0%
Total	20,475	100%