Ernie Bourassa (b. 1954)
Ernie Bourassa was born in Whitehorse. He represented the Yukon at the Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife in 1970, and the following year he played volleyball at the Canada Winter Games in Saskatoon. Bourassa attended Royal Roads Military College and Simon Fraser University and then graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1980.1)
Bourassa became an insurance broker with Reed Stenhouse in Whitehorse, and was promoted to branch manager in 1986. In 1990 he purchased the majority of Bailey-Richardson Insurance Brokers and renamed it Bourassa Richardson Insurance.2)
In the early 1990s, Bourassa served as vice-president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce. In 2000, he ran for mayor of Whitehorse on a platform of improving the city’s waterfront. He was elected in 2000 and again in 2003. During his tenure, the $28.8 million multiplex sports facility was completed and the city placed a ban on smoking in public areas. Bourassa ran for a third term in 2006 but was defeated by Bev Buckway.3)
Bourassa served as executive of the 2007 Canada Winter Games, the first Canada Games to be held north of 60. In January 2007, he was appointed president and CEO of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. He left that position to move to Kelowna in 2007, but returned to Whitehorse in 2009.4)