Ed. note: this is the first of four consecutive pages profiling the territorial political parties’ leaders in the run-up to Monday’s election.

“This election isn’t about the past five years, this election is about the next five years.”

So said Premier Darrell Pasloski on Oct. 7, at the launch of the 2016 territorial election campaign.

For many Yukoners, however, this election is just as much about the last five years – and the last 14 years of Yukon Party rule – as it is about the upcoming term.

No campaign is easy, but Pasloski faced a unique set of challenges going into this race.

He not only had to defend his record as premier and MLA, but he had to convince Yukoners that two decades of the same party in power will be right and good for the territory.

But Pasloski is confident in his grand vision for the Yukon, and that voters will be on-side.

“(My) long-term vision would be that Yukon can be a net contributor to this country, that we can pay our own way in the best country in the world,” he told the Star earlier this week.

“We truly have a bold platform, visionary platform, not just for the next five years, but that helps us move us down that road towards what would ultimately be that goal of being able to be a full partner in our confederation by paying our own way.”

The Yukon’s massive annual transfer of funds from Ottawa is a something party leaders aren’t quick to talk about.

The public accounts for 2015-16, the territory’s financial statement, was released on Wednesday. It shows that in the last fiscal year, 85 per cent of Yukon government revenues came from the government of Canada.

The small-c conservative Yukon Party has positioned itself as a promoter of business, champion of the resource sector and the party that will keep taxes low.

Government, like a household or business, should operate within its means, says Pasloski.

He believes in fiscal conservatism, but says he is socially progressive.

If elected, Pasloski promises to transition Yukon College to a university, invest $100 million in retrofits to government buildings, making them more energy-efficient, and to rigorously resist a price on carbon.

He says he can do all this without raising taxes and while keeping the Yukon net-debt-free.

Coming off a career as a pharmacist, Pasloski is especially concerned with health care.

During his time as premier, he made a number of investments in health and social infrastructure: the MRI and Whitehorse General Hospital expansion, regional hospitals in Dawson City and Watson Lake planned under former premier Dennis Fentie’s regime, the continuing care centre in Whistle Bend that is currently under construction, and the new Sarah Steele Building, to name some.

“Even through work as a pharmacist and health care provider, it was always about helping people,” he says.

Pasloski, who is 55, moved to Whitehorse from Yorkton, Sask. with his young family 26 years ago, to take over one of the Shoppers Drug Marts in town (he would eventually acquire the other as well).

He has four grown children, three daughters and a son, between the ages of 24 and 31. His family, says Pasloski, has always been supportive of his political ambitions.

Tammie, Pasloski’s wife, has been especially helpful, knocking on doors with him and coming out to events.

The two of them have made it a point over the last five years to get out in their riding of Mountainview and talk to residents, he says.

“I don’t just knock on people’s doors before elections,” says Pasloski. “It’s been a part of what Tammie and I have done every year in the riding.”

Pasloski’s time as a businessman informed his politics, but it couldn’t prepare him for all the demands of being head of the territory’s largest employer – the Yukon government.

“Coming right out of the private sector, there was a big learning curve on governance,” he says.

Without giving specific examples, he added that, “what’s really important is that as a leader, you have to learn from those experiences, and that’s what helps make you better.”

Of course, his term as premier has not been all handshakes and smiles.

Years of protracted court cases have damaged relations with First Nations.

First Nations governments have filed a number of lawsuits in the last five years, over alleged government actions that undermine their final agreements and infringe upon their aboriginal rights.

Perhaps most notable is the dispute over the Peel Watershed land use plan, which has moved all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Some in First Nations communities have said there is a mistrust of the Yukon government.

Part of the mistrust dates back to before Pasloski was in power.

It’s a question that lingers over all the parties: how will the next Yukon government account for policies of previous governments, that were discriminatory and harmful to Yukon First Nations?

Pasloski says reconciliation is a journey that begins with understanding “horrible events that happened in the past,” and that will never end but continue to evolve.

With regard to implementing the calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Pasloski says it’s important for First Nations to take the lead.

“They will require some support, and they will require some financial support, to do that, and we’re willing to do that,” he says.

The Yukon Party platform includes $3.5 million for supporting the implementation of the TRC recommendations, and $1.5 million for First Nations women’s groups in the territory.

The TRC calls to action were released in June 2015.

Asked why the Yukon Party government didn’t commit any funding between then and the election, Pasloski says the government was waiting for response to a funding request made by Yukon First Nations to Ottawa.

“It was only until just recently that we found out that the federal government was unwilling to commit financially to the process,” he says.

“They didn’t give us any positive response, and we as a party believe that it is very important, and that’s why we’ve made the commitment in the platform.”

The Yukon Party has made the carbon tax a wedge issue this campaign.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that in 2018, a national price on carbon of $10 per tonne will be imposed in any province or territory that doesn’t come up with its own carbon pricing plan.

Pasloski has been the only leader to oppose carbon pricing, and is adamant that an exemption for the Yukon is possible.

He says Canada’s other premiers are understanding.

“When we explain our situation, that most of our electricity is renewable, that our main emitters are buildings and transportation, and when we explain our commitment to investing infrastructure dollars to make buildings more energy-efficient and actually creating work, everybody agrees with that.”

But Pasloski has repeatedly evaded questions about his party’s plan, in the event that a price on carbon is imposed on the territory, as Trudeau says it will be.

Would he go ahead with the $100-million worth of retrofits, as promised?

Without accepting the possibility of a carbon price in the Yukon, the premier says, the retrofits are “the right thing to do.”

“I want to keep that money in people’s pockets,” he says, adding that no matter what, people in the North need to drive everywhere, and many need to heat their homes with oil.

“We can’t change people’s behaviours. so we really don’t see any significant reduction in emissions.”