The leader of the Conservative Party spent Sunday morning knocking on Yellowknife doors and speaking to residents with Kimberly Fairman, who has been chosen as the party’s next NWT candidate.
Pierre Poilievre’s first visit to the territory as leader featured an “axe the tax” rally at the city’s Explorer Hotel, where he shared his vision for the federal government with hundreds of supporters.
During the event, Poilievre threw T-shirts into the crowd. Attendees held signs or wore shirts bearing slogans like “protect hunters,” “axe the tax,” “common sense” and “NWT for Pierre.”
“I want to connect with northerners and I know they feel abandoned and they’re struggling to pay their bills,” Poilievre told Cabin Radio ahead of the rally.
“I’m here to share my common sense plan to axe the carbon tax; to bring home affordable heat, food and gas; lower income tax so hard work pays off; bring in jail and not bail for repeat violent offenders; and protect the rights of hunters and sport shooters to lawfully own their property.”
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Poilievre told supporters if his party takes power following the next federal election, he plans to address healthcare labour shortages in rural and remote communities by allowing immigrant and foreign-trained doctors and nurses to take a blue seal exam to practise in Canada.
The Conservative leader said he wants to increase the number of homes built annually across Canada by 15 percent. He said his party plans to complete an audit of federally owned buildings and land to determine suitability for housing.
He pledged to cut housing red tape and incentivize municipalities, provinces and territories to free up land and speed up permitting by tying federal infrastructure funding to the number of homes built each year.
Poilievre further vowed to support the trades as well as invest in Canada’s military to “protect the North and stake the strongest claim ever on all of our northern territories and waters.”
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In response to questions from Cabin Radio about the North’s infrastructure deficit, Poilievre said his party was open to some major projects the NWT is pursuing like the Mackenzie Valley Highway and Taltson hydro expansion, which so far remain without the transformative funding – to the tune of $1 billion or more – each would need to be completed.
He said if the Conservatives win the next election, they plan to increase resource development in the North to help fund such projects. (The Conservatives want to repeal Bill C-69, which strengthened Ottawa’s ability to assess environmental and social impacts when major projects are proposed nationwide. However, NWT projects generally must also pass significant territorial regulatory and political scrutiny, which runs separately to any federal intervention.)
“We have to produce more revenue to fund these many projects that are needed across Canada, but especially in the North,” Poilievre said.
Beyond Sunday’s rally, Poilievre said he planned to meet with NWT Premier RJ Simpson while he is in the territory.
He is next headed to Iqaluit, where he plans to hold a rally on Monday. He previously held a rally in Whitehorse in September 2023.
The next federal election must be held on or before October 20, 2025. The Conservatives have already selected Kimberly Fairman as their candidate whenever that election takes place – an event that became somewhat more likely in the near term when the New Democrats recently ended their confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal minority government. Even so, the ending of that deal does not guarantee an early election.
The NDP has already selected Kelvin Kotchilea, who ran for the party in the 2021 election, as their NWT candidate for the next election
Michael McLeod, the territory’s Liberal MP since 2015, has announced he does not plan to seek re-election.
David Monroe, chair of the Northwest Territories Federal Liberal Association, told Cabin Radio the nomination process for a Liberal candidate is ongoing and several people have expressed interest in running.
