Yanik D’Aigle, the only person to put their name forward, has been acclaimed as the Conservative Party’s 2019 federal election candidate in the NWT.
The party’s NWT officials confirmed D’Aigle’s success in a statement on Thursday afternoon as nominations closed.
Tim Syer, president of the NWT’s Conservative Riding Association, said in a statement: “Yanik is a well-respected member of the Northwest Territories business and not-for-profit communities and will be a very strong candidate for our riding.”
D’Aigle himself, a Yellowknife banker, said: “My spouse Tammy and I know what the difficulties and challenges of running a household in the North through raising our four children here.
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“I’m going to work hard every day to earn northerners’ confidence and support by showing how an Andrew Scheer Conservative government will help them not just get by, but get ahead.”
The Liberals (Michael McLeod), Conservatives, and People’s Party of Canada (Luke Quinlan) have all now confirmed NWT candidates for the fall’s election.
The NDP and Greens are expected to announce their candidates in the next month.
“By trade, I’m fiscally conservative,” D’Aigle told Cabin Radio in an interview earlier this month, while nominations remained open.
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“I think anything that I look at being able to do has to have a return on investment.
“Now, that’s not necessarily always a financial investment. It can be an economic one, it can be from a social perspective, it can also be good relations. But we should be able to measure some kind of success in anything and everything that we do.”
Declared NWT candidates (as of May 16, 2019)
- Conservative: Yanik D’Aigle
- Liberal: Michael McLeod
- People’s Party: Luke Quinlan
D’Aigle continued: “I also believe in our traditional Canadian values, when we think about what it is to be Canadian, what it is to be a northerner, what it is to embrace diversity.
“I do believe the Conservative Party reflects that.”
Asked how he reconciled that statement with concerns that Conservatives, both federally and at a provincial level, had too often found themselves associated with hate speech and extremism, D’Aigle said provincial parties like that run by Jason Kenney in Alberta were “not reflective of the federal party.”
He added: “Right now, when I look at the Conservative Party, the last time that I checked there is a multitude of new Canadians, minorities, and women that are part of it and looking to represent the Conservative Party from coast to coast. That’s what I want to see when I look at the entire perspective of the entire party.
“Any scenario might have a few bad apples, and that’s in any organization – but that should not label the entire organization as a whole.”
Listen to Yanik D’Aigle’s full interview in the Lunchtime News podcast for May 10, 2019.
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D’Aigle’s early platform includes working toward a repeal of the carbon tax and removing the GST from home heating costs. The Conservative Party has also said it would ensure 100 percent of resource royalties remain in the NWT, eschewing the share currently handed to the federal government.
Speaking to Cabin Radio, he dismissed concerns that, having lived in Yellowknife for seven years, he did not have sufficient experience in the North to represent the territory’s residents.
“I think, after seven years, I can call myself a northerner,” he said.
