- John Ostashek
John Ostashek (b.
May 10 Fact|date=June 2007 1936, High Prairie,Alberta — d.June 10 2007 ,Edmonton Fact|date=August 2008,Alberta ) was a formerYukon politician. An entrepreneur, he was elected leader of theYukon Party in June 1992 and led it to victory in the fall 1992 election in which he also won a seat in thelegislature for the first time.Ostashek declined to use the title
Premier adopted by his predecessor,Tony Penikett and preferred to be called "Government Leader". Ostashek'sminority government , which was kept in power with the support of right leaning independent MLAs, was a conservative one which institutedwelfare reform and a reduction of public services. Soon after coming into power, his government signed land claims agreements with fourFirst Nations communities in the Yukon which had been negotiated by the previous government.Ostashek's Yukon Party lost the 1996 election to the Yukon NDP though he retained his seat and became leader of the opposition. In the 2000 election however his Yukon Party was again defeated, this time by the Liberals with Ostashek losing his own seat. He subsequently resigned as Yukon Party leader and retired from politics.
He died on
June 10 2007 , aged 71 fromcancer .( [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070612/John_Ostashek_070612/20070612?hub=Canada Canadian Press via CTV, "Former Yukon gov't leader John Ostashek dies" June 12, 2007] )References
* [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/06/11/ostashek-dead.html Former Yukon government leader dies] "CBC.ca"
* [http://www.whitehorsestar.com/auth.php?r=47463 Ostashek: ‘What you saw is what you got’] "Whitehorse Daily Star"
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