As the race continues to become the territory's new MP, those who have held the office before shared some insight on the job as well as some predictions and advice to candidates for the 45th general election.

Dennis Bevington was the MP for the territory from 2006 until 2015 under the NDP banner He pointed out that no matter who wins, the NWT will have a brand new MP, as all four confirmed candidates have yet to hold a seat.

Michael McLeod announced his retirement in the middle of 2024. Rebecca Alty is now running for the Liberals in the hopes of retaining the deat for the party in the territory.

Bevington said so far, things are looking up for the Liberals and Prime Minister Mark Carney, in particular. 

But a strong start doesn't mean a strong finish.

"You don't want to peak too early in a campaign," he said.

Bevington referenced what happened in 2015 with the NDP, where his party peaked before the campaign and, at one point, was leading in most opinion polls.

Once the campaign started, the party continually lost ground, he said. 

Bevington added that, in his experience, he thinks a minority government would be better for Canada.

"I was in two minority governments and I always found that minority governments really were more unifying," he said. "They were better for the party in power in some ways because they couldn't just listen to their own party. They had to listen to others and the resulting effect was that they had better policies."

For this election, he said he'd want to see a minority government between the Liberals and the NDP holding the balance of power.

In the NWT, Bevington said all the candidates here are interesting in their own way. He said that he finds Conservative candidate Kimberly Fairman to be very reticent about what she thinks, while noting NDP candidate Kelvin Kotchilea did well in the last election, coming in second. Alty has put herself in a good position to win - the sign of a well-experienced politician.

"She comes in with good credentials but is she well-known in the communities? That remains to be seen," he said.

Dave Nickerson is also a past the MP for the territory, serving three terms from 1979 to 1988. He also holds the distinction of being the Conservative to hold the seat.

"I'm very lonely," Nickerson said jokingly. "I've been the only living ex-Conservative MP and I want some company."

In contrast to Bevington, Nickerson said he wants to see a majority Conservative government with Fairman as the territory's MP.

He said minority governments move too slow and though they're not always bad, now is not the time for one. 

"I think Canada has realized that it's time for change," he said. "We've had an old, outdated level of government in there for quite some time and for a variety of reasons - it might be different across the country - people really want change. So, the opportunity is now before them."

Nickerson said he's mostly familiar with Fairman and Alty, who are both competent in their own right, he said. 

"When it comes to issues facing the Northwest Territories, I would suspect that there is a reasonable amount of agreement between them because most people who live here realize what the issues are," he said.

Asked what it'll take for the NWT to have another Conservative MP, Nickerson was blunt: demonstrate competence.

"They have to show that they're really concerned with the nation, with the area from which they come," he said. "They have to be able to present a platform of ideas that ring with the people,"

What rings with people right now, Nickerson said, is high taxes, an economic going downhill and an overburdening of rules and regulations from the federal government. He specifically mentioned the time the

"These are some of the issues," he said. "Some of them are economic and concern people's pocketbooks, some of them probably a little bit more focused on issues like freedom of the people to do what [they] want."

Personally, Nickerson said people don't often think straight during an election campaign.

"Especially the politicians involved, who come up with all kinds of weird and wonderful promises that can't be financed," he chuckled. "So I try to make up my own opinion on what has happened, what people have said and what people have done before the campaign."

SA国际影视传媒 also tried contacting former Liberal MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, but she couldn't be reached for comment. McLeod, who has previously spoken to SA国际影视传媒 about his retirement, gave some advice to the once-unconfirmed candidate: stay focused on what matters to Northerners.

"That has to be number one." he said.

Election day is April 28.