Yukon Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell says his party's candidate, Kirk Cameron, was up against overwhelming odds in the Whitehorse Centre byelection, in which Cameron placed a distant second to NDP Leader Liz Hanson.

The late Todd Hardy's legacy as the former NDP leader and MLA for downtown Whitehorse boded well for Hanson, Mitchell suggested.

"Obviously, we would've liked to do better,” he told the Star today.

"One of the things we found when I knocked on the doors was Kirk wasn't just running against Liz Hanson ... he was running against Todd Hardy,” Mitchell said. "I heard Todd's name from just as many people as I heard Liz's, so he was clearly an element in this campaign.”

Hanson garnered 356 votes, or 52 per cent of the 687 ballots cast (1,133 voters were registered), to Cameron's 181 (26 per cent), while Yukon Party candidate Mike Nixon picked up 150 votes.

The Liberal leader said media coverage of the Dec. 5 all-candidates' forum also played a factor.

There, Cameron's girlfriend, Roxanne Livingstone, turned the proceedings personal when she ascribed blame to Hanson for the 2003 death of a homeless aboriginal man when Hanson was the regional director of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

"It happened, and I don't think it helped us,” Mitchell said of the media fallout from Livingstone's question.

"It leads to letter-writing campaingns, and, what can you say? I don't think that in and of itself was the difference in the election .... I know Ms. Livingstone felt strongly about these issues, but it doesn't come out that way.”

But Mitchell said the general election that Premier Dennis Fentie has until Oct. 14, 2011 to call, would be a different story.

"The next election will be about the Yukon Party record and they'll have to explain why, in eight years, they didn't develop a homeless shelter,” said Mitchell. "Then there's the secret negotiations on (selling) the Yukon Energy Corporation ... they've got a lot to answer for, and that wasn't really the issue this time around.”

Whether Cameron would take another run in the general election, expected in the fall of 2011, remains to be seen, the Liberal candidate told reporters following his defeat.

"I want to get a sense from (downtown voters), if they think that what I have to offer is strong and they want an opportunity to consider me for the next election,” Cameron said.

"And we'll go from there.”

Mitchell, who suffered a loss in the Yukon's 2002 general election, before winning the party's leadership race three years later, then winning his seat in the legislature in the 2006 general election, said he can sympathize with Cameron.

"First of all, Kirk's a good man, and he tried hard. Look, I've been there – I've been out there picking up my signs after not winning,” said Mitchell. "The next day is a lonely day.”

Fentie did not return calls for comment on the byelection results as of early this afternoon.

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