Yellowknife North | Edwin Castillo, Sean Erasmus, Ben Nind, Cory Vanthuyne, Dan Wong

New name, new MLA: A crowded field of five candidates is vying to represent the riding formerly known as Weledeh.

Yellowknife North is technically a new riding for 2015, although there was once a much larger Yellowknife North riding before the creation of Nunavut in 1999 necessitated a complete redrawing of the N.W.T.'s electoral boundaries. The new version of Yellowknife North contains all of the old Weledeh seat except for the communities of Detah and N'Dilo, which were cleaved off to form part of the new Tu Nedhe Wiilideh riding. 

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The bulk of Yellowknife North is a mix of urban and rural. It includes a portion of Yellowknife's downtown, the Niven Lake subdivision, Old Town and Latham Island. Redistribution moved the boundary from 47th Street to 48th Street, which adds more businesses and residents from downtown.The rural portion of the riding includes populated areas stretching north of the city along the Ingraham Trail, including Prelude Lake, Cassidy Point, Pontoon Lake and Madeline Lake.

Once represented by former premier Joe Handley, Weledeh was then represented for two straight terms by biologist Bob Bromley. In the 2011 election, Bromley easily defeated challenger Mark Bogan. Bromley is not running again.

Instead it will be a matchup featuring five candidates: two former Yellowknife city councillors, Dan Wong and Cory Vanthuyne, civil servant Edwin Castillo, heavy equipment operator Sean Erasmus and arts scene linchpin and former Dennis Bevington constituency assistant Ben Nind.

Edwin Castillo

Castillo was born in the Philippines and came to Yellowknife in 1968. He's lived there ever since. He has bachelor's degrees in science and commerce from the University of Alberta and just became a certified general accountant. Castillo has worked for the territorial government for 30 years in economic development, finance and the executive. He sits on numerous volunteer boards and was vice chair of the Yellowknife Catholic School Board for eight years.

Like many candidates, Castillo identifies economic issues as the most important ones in this election. He says the high cost of living is connected with all of the territory's social issues, including homelessness and food security. Castillo favours the 'housing first' model of social services and says better education is key to fostering self-reliance. He also wants to see better coordination between government departments on social policies.

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Sean Erasmus 

Born and raised in Yellowknife, Erasmus has an extensive background in labour and trades. He's worked as a roughneck in the Norman Wells oil patch, and for the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre as a safety supervisor, construction worker and heavy equipment operator. He most recently worked at the Giant Mine stabilization project. He's currently working on a four-year bachelor of management degree from Athabasca University.

Erasmus says the cost of living is a major issue, and says he wants to reduce barriers to employment and starting up businesses. He promises a different approach to tackling homelessness. Erasmus also says he has a plan for saving the Robertson headframe at Con Mine. He says he's running a shoestring campaign, making signs himself and refusing all campaign donations.

Ben Nind

Nind was born in Listowel, Ontario and raised in Yellowknife. He has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Ottawa and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada. He's worked as a small business owner, land use planner, surveyor, bus driver, cultural administrator, and until recently, the constituency assistant for former N.W.T. MP Dennis Bevington. This is Nind's first time running for elective office.

He wants the government to reduce the cost of living by investing in renewable energy, agriculture, forestry and the Great Slave fishery. He says the territorial government should be cautious in its infrastructure spending and should consider rent control legislation. He also wants to see the creation of an "innovation centre" for the territory and supports a ban on all "non-conventional" forms of oil extraction.

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Cory Vanthuyne

Vanthuyne was born in New Westminster, B.C., while his parents were living in Inuvik. The family moved to Yellowknife when he was two years old and Vanthuyne has lived there ever since. He has a degree in management and and has done apprenticeships in carpentry and cabinet making. He has worked in management positions with the private sector and the territorial government. Since 2010 he's worked as a consultant and businessman and served two terms on Yellowknife city council.

Vanthuyne says the territory needs to diversify both its resource economy, branching out from diamonds, and its overall economy, by building other sectors like creative industries, traditional industries, clean energy and agriculture. He also says the territorial government needs to become much more transparent, by opening up committee meetings. "Everything's at risk when you keep the doors closed," he says. "That's not government."

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Dan Wong

Raised in Yellowknife, Wong has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in political science. He's worked for four GNWT departments over six years, including three years as a climate change specialist for Environment and Natural Resources. He served one term as a Yellowknife city councillor and chaired the city's community energy planning committee. Wong also ran unsuccessfully for MLA in Yellowknife Centre in 2003.

Wong's main priority is getting the N.W.T. off its dependency on diesel fuel. He says the territorial government needs to stop talking about building a clean energy economy and start doing it. To accomplish that, he suggests an aggressive expansion of wind, solar and biomass energy, starting in diesel-dependant communities. Wong also wants to tweak programs he says are already working, like funding for home retrofits and net metering, which allows people to sell green energy back to the grid.

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