The Yukon had the worst economic performance of any province or territory in 2013, according to recent figures from Statistics Canada.

The gross domestic product (GDP) declined by nearly a full percentage point, resting in the range of $2.3 billion.

New Brunswick was the only other jurisdiction to see contraction, with the GDP falling roughly half as far in percentage points as the territory’s.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver was quick to call out the government on the new numbers this week. He noted the disparity between them and the rosier predictions trumpeted by the Yukon Party last year.

“Just over a year ago, the minister issued a news release patting the government on the back for its role in seeing the Yukon through yet another year of economic growth,” Silver told the legislature Thursday.

“There’s only one problem with the minister’s self-congratulations — he was incorrect, and the final numbers weren’t yet in.”

Economic Development Minister Currie Dixon replied that the StatsCan figures said “what many Yukoners already knew: 2013 was a difficult year for Yukon’s economy.

“We recognize that.”

Dixon cited the $1.3-billion 2014-15 territorial budget — the largest ever, as were the five budgets before it — and predicted a rebound in residential construction for 2014.

The GDP contraction marked an end to nine consecutive years of economic growth under Yukon Party stewardship.

“This is despite a billion-dollar budget, mostly from the feds, which this government likes to boast about,” Silver said.

Last fall, the government projected a GDP boost in 2014 of 8.8 per cent.

That optimism was questioned at the time by Rick Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, as well as the opposition parties.

The sunny forecast was scaled back to 1.8 per cent earlier this year.

Dixon responded: “The economic forecasts that are conducted by the Department of Economic Development are not influenced by me, they’re not done by me and they’re not a result of any sort of political direction.

“They are done by the economists in the department who work as best they can with the data that they have available,” he said.

Silver took a jab at the government’s effectiveness in an area dear to its heart, the private sector, where jobs dropped by about 300 over the past two years, he said.

The public sector, meanwhile, put on an extra 1,200 jobs, Silver said.

Dixon disputed Silver’s notion the private sector had declined.

“If he’s concerned with the growth of the public sector, perhaps he can give us a list of the jobs that he would like to see cut, and we can let those employees know that the Liberal party doesn’t value their contributions to our economy,” he retorted.

George Marchewa, the “senior econometric analyst” at Economic Development, said today the “downward revision to the GDP is normal given the slowdown” last year.

“Most of that is driven by the slowdown in the construction industry, both on the residential and non-residential side,” he told the Star.

Marchewa noted major projects like the F.H. Collins Secondary School construction, with a budget well over $30 million, along with the new Alexander Street seniors’ facility and Yukon Energy’s backup LNG generators will likely push construction numbers back up for 2014.

Mineral exploration was down significantly in 2013, he noted.

Marchewa said there’s basically no production from the Kotaneelee natural gas field field in southeast Yukon.

Mining output increased in 2013, despite the suspension of activity at the Alexco Resource Corp.’s Bellekeno Mine.

“And as new information becomes available and projects change, we adjust our predictions,” Marchewa said.