Yukon who is who

Thomas Dufferin “Duff” Pattullo (1873 - 1956)

Duff Pattullo was born in Woodstock, Ontario. He worked for the Woodstock Sentinel and became the editor of his father’s newspaper, the Galt Reformer, in 1896.¹⁾ In 1897, Duff’s father’s political connections gained Duff the position of secretary to J.M. Walsh, Yukon’s first Commissioner. The party of fifty left for Vancouver in September 1897. Pattullo needed spending money for his high lifestyle so he wired news accounts to his father who submitted them to the Toronto Globe. The party spent the winter at Big Salmon where Pattullo’s boat was wrecked in the ice and J.J. Freeman drowned.²⁾ The party continued north in the spring of 1898 and arrived in late May. The Yukon Act was proclaimed on June 13 and Pattullo served briefly as secretary to the first elected Yukon Council. By mid-August Walsh was gone from the Yukon, taking Pattullo with him. Pattullo was back in Dawson by late October carrying official documents from Clifford Sifton, the Minister of the Interior. Commissioner Ogilvie squashed Pattullo’s expectation to be named principal secretary to the Commissioner, so Sifton offered him a job in the Gold Commissioner's office. Ogilvie did not like Pattullo's drinking and ordered him to Fort Selkirk as the government timber agent. This put Ogilvie out of favour with Sifton.³⁾

Pattullo was back in Dawson in the summer of 1899 as acting assistant Gold Commissioner. He worked hard to clean up the mess of paperwork in the office and won praise from the editor of the anti-government Klondike Nugget. Pattullo had redeemed himself with Ogilvie, but a visiting deputy minister passed on his reputation to Sifton, and he was passed over for promotion. When the new assistant Gold Commissioner was suspended for ‘mal-administration’, Pattullo again took up the acting position but a year later, in 1902, was again passed over for promotion. Pattullo quit the public service.⁴⁾

In 1902 Pattullo formed a real estate and insurance company and was elected to the Dawson City Council. When Commissioner Frank Congdon won the liberal nomination to run in the federal election, Pattullo wrote to Sifton, warning him of Congdon's methods. In response, Congdon held a plebiscite to dismantle the Dawson City Council. The fight split the Liberal party into two groups - The Tabs, supporting Congdon, and the “Steam Beers”, supporting Pattullo. Pattullo wrote to both Sifton and Laurier against Congdon. The Dawson taxpayers voted to dismantle the Dawson City charter and remove the elected council, so Pattullo lost his position. When the federal election campaign began, the Yukon Liberal Association withdrew its support for Congdon and endorsed the Conservative candidate, Andrew Thompson, who won in a landslide. Congdon sought to be re-instated as Commissioner but W. B. McInnes, of British Columbia, was chosen instead.⁵⁾

In 1908 Pattullo moved to Prince Rupert to open a branch office of his real estate and insurance company. He was elected alderman and became the mayor, and in 1916 was elected to the British Columbia Assembly. He was the Minister of Lands in the new Liberal government. The Liberals were defeated in 1928 and he became the leader sitting in Opposition. He revitalized the party, led it to victory in 1933, and became premier.⁶⁾

Pattullo visited Dawson in 1936 and toured the gold fields before returning south. In April 1937, he announced that the Yukon would likely be annexed to British Columbia, a province in financial difficulty. The federal government had already agreed to the transfer. The Territorial Council denounced the plan, and the Yukon Consolidated Gold Company wrote to the minister about concerns of higher tax levies.⁷⁾ Pattullo was convinced that British Columbia’s future lay in northern prosperity, dependent on good transportation routes. He became a supporter of a highway to Alaska. The American Congress provided $2 million for the project in 1935 and authorized the president to talk to the Canadians. Politics continued to bog down the process and Pattullo pushed the plan with Roosevelt. Mackenzie King was furious with British Columbia’s interference in international affairs and obstructed the plan.⁸⁾ Pattullo was innovative during the depression, extending the role of the provincial government, which led to a discussion with Ottawa that led to a reappraisal of Canadian federalism. The election of 1941 was inconclusive and after he rejected a coalition with the Conservatives, he was rebuffed by his party. Pattullo was defeated in his Prince Rupert riding in 1945 and retired to Victoria.⁹⁾

A detailed study of the early years of Yukon political development can be found in David Morrison, The Politics of the Yukon Territory, 1898-1909. University of Toronto Press, 1968.