Last Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama and president-elect Donald Trump got together inside the Oval Office.

For 90 minutes, they discussed Trump’s ascendance to the highest seat in the nation, and a smooth transition of power.

Trump said he looked forward to “dealing with the president” in the future and called Obama “a very good man,” The Washington Post reported. Of course, as Trump looks to undo much of Obama’s legacy, the shift from one administration to the next is sure to be seismic.

The Yukon election, which took place one day before the American, came and went with much less media scrutiny, but for those in government, the transition underway right now may be just as consuming.

For one thing, a new Liberal government means an overhaul of the Yukon government’s upper ranks.

Outgoing Premier Darrell Pasloski, his cabinet ministers and about 25 cabinet staff members are out of work, Kate Durand, a spokesperson for the Executive Council Office (ECO), said in an email earlier this week.

“Cabinet ministers and cabinet staff members serve at the pleasure of the premier,” noted Durand.

That means their employment is up when the premier says so, or at the end of the premier’s mandate.

These include communications officers, researchers and case workers, said Helen Fitzsimmons, the director of administration in the legislative assembly.

In total, nine incumbents gunning for re-election lost their positions: five from the Yukon Party and four from the NDP.

The NDP was brought down from official Opposition to third-party status, and with it, the caucus budget. Some jobs may be cut in that office too.

“I’m not sure who’s staying and who’s leaving; we haven’t got that information yet because everybody’s just frantically packing so we can move right now,” said Fitzsimmons.

She oversees administration, finance and personnel at the legislative assembly.

A transition team is in place and they have a lot of hiring to do to staff the new Liberal office, which will take over the space upstairs the Yukon Party is vacating, said Fitzsimmons.

Then there’s training for the 11 first-time, incoming MLAs.

“I do an orientation with them to talk about pay and benefits, our clerk does an orientation to talk about the proceedings in the house, and ECO will look at the other side of it, like the government business side of it,” said Fitzsimmons.

Right now, it’s unclear exactly how many jobs will be lost and gained as a result of the election.

There is also the question of what the Liberal government’s cabinet will look like. That won’t be answered publicly until the ministers are sworn in, and the date for that has yet to be announced.

Premier-designate Sandy Silver has the authority to tweak cabinet portfolios, create new ones and scrap others, if he so chooses, confirmed Durand.

At a pre-election speech to the Yukon First Nations Chamber of Commerce in September, Silver said it is “well past the time to incorporate our First Nations culture into our seat of government – the legislative assembly.

“It is supposed to be a place where everyone feels at home, but I know that is not the case because I have heard it repeatedly from First Nation people who come there. It has to be more inclusive, and I’m determined to make that happen,” he said.

Silver did not say exactly how he would bring First Nations culture into the legislature.

Will he move to acknowledge First Nations territory at the start of each sitting day?

Will he create a cabinet position dedicated to First Nations relations?

Silver told the Yukon First Nations Chamber of Commerce that he’s open to suggestions.

The Yukon is the only Canadian jurisdiction with party politics that does not have a specific cabinet portfolio for indigenous relations.

In the outgoing Yukon Party government, Aboriginal Relations was folded into the ECO and was overseen by the premier.

By contrast, Ontario renamed its Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs last May. Now called the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, it’s cabinet minister David Zimmer’s only file.

Though symbolic, the name change in Ontario suggests that government is rethinking its role in relation to indigenous peoples in the province.

As the Yukon government rejigs, a number of severance payouts will be made.

Outgoing MLAs are entitled to varying amounts in severance, though all are getting more than they would have, had the election been called just days earlier.

As the Star reported last month, the severance packages for MLAs shot up after Oct. 11, when the the 34th legislative assembly exceeded five years.

Severance pay for MLAs gets an automatic bump from 25 per cent of wages to 50 per cent of wages, after they hold office for five years. After eight years, severance jumps to 100 per cent of earnings.

This means Pasloski will get about $66,700 in severance, while first-term Yukon Party cabinet ministers will get about $58,000.

David Laxton, who went from the Yukon Party caucus to sitting as an independent last spring, will get about $45,000.

The departing NDP MLAs will get about $37,000, said Fitzsimmons.

Deputy premier Elaine Taylor served 14 consecutive years as a Yukon Party MLA, so she stands to get about $116,000 in severance.

Darius Elias served two terms, sitting as a Liberal, then as an independent, and finally as a member of the Yukon Party. He will get about $75,000 in severance.

It’s too early to calculate MLAs’ exact severance, as they will continue to be paid until the new government takes over, expected to be sometime later this month.

The total payout for MLAs, however, will be around $624,700.

Taylor and Elias will be entitled to a pension when they turn 55, said Fitzsimmons. The other MLAs will have their pension contributions returned to them.

Rural MLAs who don’t have homes in Whitehorse will have their rents covered until Dec. 30. Elias and the NDP’s Kevin Barr both qualify for the rent allowance.