Liberals nominate MP McLeod to defend NWT seat

Northwest Territories MP Michael McLeod will this week celebrate nomination by the Liberal Party to defend his seat at this year’s federal election.

An event is to be held in Fort Providence on Friday.

McLeod has been the territory’s MP since 2015, when he unseated New Democrat Dennis Bevington.

McLeod won 48 percent of the vote to Bevington’s 30 percent, with Conservative candidate Floyd Roland taking 18 percent. The result represented a 22-point Liberal swing.

While the Liberals nominating McLeod to defend his seat was essentially a foregone conclusion, Liberal incumbents wishing to stand again had to demonstrate engagement with the community before receiving the party’s nomination.

Explaining the nominations process on its website, the party said that included receiving the signatures of 150 Liberals in the community; working with volunteers to achieve at least 3,500 knocks on doors, or 5,000 phone calls; and meeting a set of grassroots fundraising targets.

An NWT Liberal Party representative said McLeod had met those commitments, adding that 121 of the party’s 181 MPs have so far held similar nomination events.

McLeod’s nomination celebration will feature a feast lunch at Fort Providence’s community hall from 11:30am until 1:30pm on Friday.

In full: Michael McLeod’s speeches and voting record as MP

McLeod was born in Fort Providence in 1959. He is set to be the first Liberal candidate to stand in two successive NWT elections since Ethel Blondin-Andrew, who represented the territory from 1988 to 2006.

Other parties have yet to formally announce NWT nominees for the election, which is planned for October 21.