Hon. Ted Staffen - Speaker
MLA - Riverdale North
Yukon Party
Ted Staffen was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the general election of November 4, 2002. He was re-elected in the general election on October 10, 2006. Mr. Staffen was elected Speaker of the Yukon Legislative Assembly on Thursday, February 27, 2003, and re-elected on Thursday, November 23, 2006.
Mr. Staffen has a background in the public sector, having worked as a legislative researcher for the Yukon government. He has also served as Executive Assistant to cabinet ministers and as director of research to cabinet. In the 1970s Mr. Staffen was the community co-ordinator for the Lysyk inquiry into the building of the Alaska Highway gas pipeline.
Mr. Staffen has private sector experience as a business owner, a venture capital co-ordinator, a business facilitator and business consultant in the energy, forestry and mining sectors in the Yukon, the NWT and Alaska. He has been a founding director of several companies in the Yukon and Alaska. He has also done contract research with the Arctic Institute of North America on northern sustainable development.
Mr. Staffen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Simon Fraser University. He served two terms as Director of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce. He has chaired the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, the Yukon Quest, and the Social Assistance Appeal Committee. His volunteer activities also include being Director of the Yukon Visitors Association, Co-Treasurer of Ducks Unlimited, and President of the Yukon Amateur Boxing Association.
Mr. Staffen has lived in the Yukon since 1969. He resides in Whitehorse with his wife Susan, they have two grown children, Jess and Bailey.
