Here's who is running to be the next N.W.T. MP

It's official.

Canadians will be going to the polls on April 28, after Prime Minister Mark Carney triggered a snap election in Ottawa Sunday.

Here are the candidates confirmed to be running so far for the N.W.T.'s only seat in the House of Commons.

Rebecca Alty

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty is the Liberal Party's candidate for the Northwest Territories riding this election.

Alty was born and raised in Yellowknife.

She was first elected as a city councillor in 2012. She served two terms on council before being elected mayor in 2018. She is currently in her second term as the city's leader. Alty is also the president of the N.W.T. Association of Communities.

Prior to her time in municipal politics, Alty held positions with the territorial government, Diavik diamond mine and at non-profit organizations.

In an interview with CBC News, Alty said she made the decision to run for federal politics because she wants to deal with the community issues she handled as Yellowknife's mayor — but at the national level.

She said the key issues she would be looking to address as the N.W.T.'s MP would be infrastructure, economic development, reconciliation and mental health and addictions.

Alty said her top priority would be addressing the territory's housing shortage.

Alty said that she will be travelling across the N.W.T. to meet constituents outside of the North Slave Region in the first weeks of her campaign.

Angela Davidson

Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, is the Green Party candidate running to become the N.W.T.'s next MP.

Davidson, who is Green Party deputy leader, was a prominent figure in protests against old-growth logging in Ada'itsx (Fairy Creek) in British Columbia.

She grew up in Calgary, and lived in Alberta until she moved to British Columbia in 2019. She currently lives in Campbell River, B.C., on Vancouver Island. Davidson told CBC News her mother is a member of the Da'naxda'xw (Awaetlala) First Nation, whose traditional territory encompasses Knight Inlet on B.C.'s central coast.

Davidson said she has never been to the Northwest Territories. She said she is planning to visit Yellowknife during her campaign but has no plans to visit any other N.W.T. communities.

She said she made the decision to run for federal office in the Northwest Territories after a very positive experience on a trip to Whitehorse.

"There's something so pristine when you reach that invisible border up there," she said. 

"Being a candidate in Northern Canada, in the northern territories, it's just a place very still connected to nature.

"I feel like the people who live there feel that as well, and it's a heart connection. I think it's something that Indigenous people have, and the people that live there feel that connection when they live up there. It's special."

She said that if elected, her top goal would be to foster unity and create inclusion for people who have previously felt excluded by party politics.

She said she would also work to increase the supply of affordable housing in the Northwest Territories and advocate to increase agriculture in remote communities by adding more greenhouses.

Kimberly Fairman

Kimberly Fairman is the Conservative Party candidate running for the N.W.T.'s federal seat this election.

Fairman, who is Inuk, grew up in Yellowknife where she continues to live with her family.

Prior to announcing her candidacy, she worked as the executive director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research. The N.W.T.-based research group conducts community-based health research in northern communities. 

She also has experience working for the territorial government, including as the director of mental health and addictions at the N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services. 

Fairman declined an interview with CBC News to discuss what she hopes to address in office.

In a news release Sunday afternoon Fairman said her goals are to cut taxes in a variety of areas, protect hunters, and support local businesses in the Northwest Territories.

She also wrote that she will "free up land and cut building taxes to make home-ownership a possibility."

Fairman answered questions in a two-minute Instagram video posted by Conservative B.C. MP Bob Zimmer in January.

In that video, she said the cost of living is one of the biggest concerns for Yellowknife residents she has spoken to, and pointed to the imminent closure of two large N.W.T. mines as one of the biggest challenges for the territory's economy.

"People are looking to see what the next investments are going to be around economy," she said.

Kelvin Kotchilea

Kelvin Kotchilea is the NDP candidate for the Northwest Territories. The party confirmed him as their candidate back in 2023.

Kotchilea is a Tłı̨chǫ citizen, who grew up in Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T., and currently lives in Yellowknife.

He has worked for the territorial government for 14 years, most of which has been spent with the Department of Environment and Climate Change. He is currently the recycling program co-ordinator for the department's waste reduction management division.

This will be Kotchilea's second time running to be the N.W.T.'s MP. He also ran for the seat as the NDP candidate in 2021, when he narrowly lost to Liberal MP Michael McLeod.

In an interview with CBC News, Kotchilea said key issues for him include the cost of living in the N.W.T. and advancing infrastructure like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, clean energy infrastructure and housing.

"It's kind of sad to see that in 2025, we just don't have the infrastructure, the capacity to provide the necessary services that are very important to the North," he said. "I would like to support that area."

He said that as an MP, we would also like to push Ottawa to advance reconciliation.

"You know, in the early [to] mid 1900s, we were promised a lot of things in the sense of housing, sovereignty, education, health care — and none of those promises that were made to us were ever granted," he said.

Kotchilea said he will be knocking on doors and meeting as many people as possible in the territory throughout his campaign.