The Yukon’s economy has shrunk two years in a row, the only territory or province in the country with that dubious distinction, according to Statistics Canada.

The gross domestic product (GDP) fell 1.2 per cent to about $2 billion in 2014, nearly double the 2013 decline of 0.7 per cent – the worst drop of any jurisdiction that year.

Resource extraction nosedived 7.3 per cent, the newly released figures state.

The ongoing shutdown of the Bellekeno silver mine, shuttered in July 2013, contributed to the production doldrums.

Yukon Zinc’s Wolverine Mine also put its operations on hold earlier this year as it entered creditor protection, resulting in layoffs for most of its workforce and $4.3 million owed to dozens of Yukon companies.

It’s unclear how earlier operational slowdowns at the mine impacted Statistics Canada’s calculations for 2014.

The Minto copper-gold mine continues to produce at its underground site, but is still waiting for a water licence for its next open pit.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver was quick to call out the government for the economy’s relatively feeble state.

“The Yukon Party loves to take credit when times are good and we’ll see if they are willing to take any responsibility for these latest numbers,” he said in a release Wednesday.

“This government’s continued court battles with First Nations over mineral development are only being further exacerbated by the premier’s amendments to Bill S-6.”

A slew of lawsuits over the past year and a half preceded threats of legal action by the Council of Yukon First Nations over a federal bill – likely to pass in the House of Commons this year – that would impact the territory’s environmental regulatory regime.

The legislation includes amendments – some recommended by the territory – that shift policy power over assessments away from an independent board and toward Ottawa and Whitehorse. Some argue it will be easier to renew or expand existing projects.

“With a forecast of more litigation on the horizon, I doubt that a rebound will happen in 2015,” Silver said.

“The Yukon Party needs to take leadership on our slowing economy, and stop publishing unrealistic economic forecasts,” he added.

In September 2013, a sunny economic forecast missed the mark with a prediction of nine-per-cent growth in 2014. Last January, an updated forecast still foresaw growth of one per cent, corrected with Statistics Canada’s negative numbers.

The forecasts are carried out by the Department of Economic Development rather than parties or politicians.

“Mining affects our entire territory,” Premier Darrell Pasloski said in the legislature Wednesday.

“That is why we are making the investments that we are right now ... so that we can be more ready when this downturn in the mining industry will uptake again.”

“This government has guided Yukon’s economy straight into recession,” NDP Leader Liz Hanson told the House yesterday.

The standard definition of recession comes into play when GDP falls for two consecutive quarters. More broadly it can be seen as “a period when GDP falls significantly below its potential rate,” according to The Economist magazine.

“Last year, the premier told Yukoners that this negative economic growth was a mere blip in 10 years of annual GDP growth.... Can the premier explain why he has blocked the tremendous potential of Yukon to the extent where Yukon was once a leader and we are now last in line?”

“This government has stated on many occasions that mining is indeed the cornerstone of this economy. The results of the latest GDP numbers reflect that,” Pasloski replied.

“This territory is truly the envy of this country because we have money in the bank ... allowing us to ensure that we’re not mortgaging the future to pay for debts today,” he added, noting the government’s history of budget surpluses under the Yukon Party.

A decade of economic growth under the Yukon Party ended in 2013.

“What I will take credit for is the $5.5 million that is going back into all Yukon taxpayers’ pockets this year and the increase in the Yukon child benefit by 35 per cent, supporting families with children,” the premier stated.

“This is a government that has just tabled the largest capital budget in Yukon’s history, putting Yukoners to work, keeping Yukoners at home, investing in infrastructure not only for today but for the long term.”

The Statistics Canada report noted construction declined nearly six per cent “with losses in residential building and engineering construction,” though non-residential building activity increased.

George Marchewa, the senior econometric analyst at Economic Development, told the Star that the 2013 construction slowdown was responsible for a hefty slice of last year’s economic stagnation.

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

That activity apparently was not enough to compensate for the snail’s pace of residential building.

Newfoundland and Labrador was the only other province or territory to contract in 2014, shrinking 2.9 per cent.