Ranj Pillai

Ranj Pillai (born January 1974) is a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Yukon and leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 2023 to 2025.

Early life Ranj was born in Inverness, Nova Scotia. He grew up in Brook Village and Inverness before moving to Antigonish to complete his high school diploma. His father, Gopi (N.G.) Pillai, is a retired Indian doctor from Kerala and his mother, Johnena Lee, is a retired nurse.

Political career Pillai sat as a Whitehorse City Councillor from 2009 to 2012. While on council, he helped bring Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada to Whitehorse and was awarded the 2011 Yukon Tourism Champion Award for his efforts.

Pillai was also the executive director of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, and has held roles with Northern Vision Development and Yukon College.

On December 3, 2016, Pillai was sworn into the Cabinet of Premier Sandy Silver as Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, and Economic Development. He is also the Minister responsible for Yukon Development Corporation and the Yukon Energy Corporation. He was acclaimed party leader in January 2023 because there were no other candidates in the race, thus becoming the premier-designate. He is the second Indo-Canadian to become premier of a province or territory, after Ujjal Dosanjh in British Columbia. He was sworn in as premier on January 14.

He declined to lead the party into the 2025 Yukon general election, announcing his decision to resign as party leader, upon the selection of his successor, and not seek re-election as an MLA, on May 7, 2025. Businessman Mike Pemberton was elected to succeed him in June. Pillai retained his roles as Minister of Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation in Pemberton's cabinet, having held those roles in Silver's cabinet.

Personal life Pillai is married and has two children.

Electoral record

Yukon general election, 2016

Ranj Pillai

NDP Shirley Chua-Tan

Whitehorse municipal election, 2009

Whitehorse municipal election, 2009 Candidate Votes %Doug Graham 2,678 13.1%Ranj Pillai 2,422 11.8%Betty Irwin 2,001 9.8%Dave Stockdale 1,986 9.7%Florence Roberts 1,794 8.8%Dave Austin 1,750 8.5%Jeanine Myhre 1,459 7.1%Ron Swizdaryk 1,450 7.1%Graham Lang 1,395 6.8%Skeeter Miller-Wright 1,370 6.7%Janet Brault 1,163 5.7%Michael Buurman 1,021 5.0%Total 20,475 100%