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 asWeledeh.

Yellowknife North is technically a new riding for 2015, although there was once a much larger Yellowknife North riding before the creation ofNunavutin 1999 necessitated a complete redrawing of theN.W.T.'selectoral boundaries.The new version of Yellowknife North contains all of the oldWeledehseat except for the communities ofDetahandN'Dilo, which were cleaved off to form part of the new TuNedheWiilidehriding.

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The bulk of Yellowknife North is a mix of urban and rural. It includes a portion of Yellowknife's downtown, theNivenLake subdivision, Old Town andLathamIsland. Redistribution moved the boundary from47thStreetto48thStreet, which adds more businesses and residents from downtown.The rural portion of the riding includes populated areas stretching north of the city along theIngrahamTrail, including Prelude Lake,CassidyPoint, Pontoon Lake andMadelineLake.

Once represented by former premier JoeHandley,Weledehwas then represented for two straight terms bybiologist BobBromley. In the 2011 election,Bromleyeasily defeated challenger MarkBogan.Bromleyis not running again.

Instead it will be amatchupfeaturing five candidates: two former Yellowknife citycouncillors, Dan Wong and CoryVanthuyne, civil servant EdwinCastillo, heavy equipment operator SeanErasmusandarts scenelinchpinandformer DennisBevingtonconstituency assistantBenNind.

EdwinCastillo

Castillowas 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.Castillohas worked for the territorial governmentfor 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,Castilloidentifies 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.Castillofavours the 'housing first' model of social services and says better education iskey to fostering self-reliance. He also wants to see better coordination between government departments on social policies.

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SeanErasmus

Born and raised in Yellowknife,Erasmushas 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 Centreas 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 fromAthabascaUniversity.

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

BenNind

Nindwas born inListowel, 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 asmall business owner, land use planner, surveyor, bus driver, cultural administrator, and until recently, the constituency assistant for former N.W.T. MP DennisBevington. This isNind'sfirst 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. Hesays the territorial governmentshould be cautious in its infrastructure spending and should consider rent control legislation. He alsowants 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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CoryVanthuyne

Vanthuynewas born in New Westminster, B.C., while his parents were living inInuvik. The family moved to Yellowknife when he was two years oldandVanthuynehas lived there ever since. He has a degreein management and and has done apprenticeships in carpentry and cabinetmaking. He has worked in managementpositionswith the private sector and the territorial government. Since 2010he'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 governmentneeds 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. Heserved 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 governmentneeds to stop talking about building a clean energy economy and start doing it. To accomplishthat, he suggests an aggressive expansion of wind, solar and biomass energy, starting in diesel-dependant communities. Wongalso 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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