Under the working moniker United Citizens Coalition, former government leader and ex-energy corporation chair Willard Phelps is forging ahead to establish a fourth political party in the Yukon.

To date, more than 60 residents have signed on to help craft a constitution and party structure to be introduced at a founding convention tentatively slated for mid-April.

While Phelps' idea for a non-partisan political party has raised eyebrows among opposition parties and some members of the general public, Phelps insists Yukoners are tired of the status quo, and touts a range of potential converts.

"We have a good interest from first nations and a spectrum of people from all parties ... there's a good mix from the old-line parties – well-known Liberals, conservatives and NDP,” Phelps told the Star Thursday.

"So I'm feeling fairly comfortable that we are able to enjoy a cross-section of Yukoners as participating members.”

Phelps made news last June after leading an exodus of four Yukon Energy Corp. directors, all alleging Premier Dennis Fentie attempted to privatize the public utility in a back room deal with Calgary-based ATCO.

When Fentie denied the allegations, Phelps turned up the heat by releasing a government-produced "joint position paper” that placed the premier in the thick of negotiations.

Already Phelps had embarked on a public campaign to discredit the premier, which consisted primarily of ad hominem attacks levelled against Fentie and his Yukon Party government.

Referring to the territory as a "banana republic” under its current "tin pot dictatorship”, the former energy corporation chair also mocked Fentie's cabinet, calling them "cowards or accomplices” to the premier's designs.

At the end of August, then-Energy minister Brad Cathers' resignation from cabinet and government appeared to validate Phelps' allegations, and Cathers' suggestion that more Yukon Party members could follow revealed potential cracks in Fentie's regime.

However, the minority government created by Cathers' exit produced was short-lived as wandering MLA John Edzerza flip-flopped back to the Yukon Party last Oct. 22, a move which restored Fentie's majority.

Driven by a belief that the Opposition Liberals and third party New Democrats were failing to hold Fentie to account, Phelps commissioned a poll to test the waters for a possible return to politics and, last Nov. 5, he held a press conference to reveal the results.

Of those polled, 87 per cent heard of Phelps' decision to leave the energy corporation board and of those who said they knew enough to comment, 89 per cent agreed with Phelps' actions and 47 per cent would vote for him were he a candidate in respondents' ridings.

This showed, said Phelps, there is an appetite for a political alternative and it is a mantra he repeated yesterday.

"The first thing people say is, ‘what's the alternative?' due to a very decided dissatisfaction with the job the Yukon Party has been doing,” Phelps said. "And it's the weakest opposition I've ever seen here in the Yukon, and I think that led to the arrogance of Mr. Fentie and his minions.”

But in the legislative assembly, votes count for much more than words, and no amount of grandstanding by opposition parties could defeat Fentie's majority.

It was a point impressed in November after Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell's impassioned speech outlining why MLAs should vote non-confidence in the Yukon Party government was received by a nonchalant Fentie, who sat casually in the legislature signing Christmas cards during the debate.

Despite supporting the Liberal non-confidence motion, defeated by the majority Yukon Party government, NDP members refrained from debate and criticized the Liberals prior to the debate for rehashing a "dead in the water issue”.

On top of scrutiny from outside the Yukon Party, Fentie will face an annual leadership review at the party's spring convention.

No date has been set for the convention.