Inuvik’s Mary Beckett named NWT NDP’s federal candidate

The NWT’s New Democratic Party has revealed its candidate for this fall’s federal election: Mary Beckett.

Beckett will be acclaimed on September 11 in Yellowknife at 7pm in the North Star building, the party said.

“I am really looking forward to the campaign and I am excited about representing the NWT in Ottawa,” Beckett told Cabin Radio.

“[She] has lived and worked in Inuvik for 35 years, helping people and small businesses in a wide variety of capacities,” stated the party in a news release, saying Beckett has developed a “deep connection” to her community through her professional and volunteer work.

“Mother of four, and grandmother of four, she knows how the state of the economy and the high cost of living affects families in the North,” the NDP wrote.

Beckett is a wellness consultant specializing in essential oils at her company, Blue Ice Essentials. She also owns Beckett Business Centre, providing office services to businesses in the Beaufort Delta, and Boreal Books, an online Indigenous art store.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Beckett previously served a two-year term on the board of governors for Aurora College and spent a year and a half as former MP Dennis Bevington’s constituency assistant.

The NDP is billing itself as the “progressive choice” and a party that “works for the people instead of the few at the top.”

The New Democrats are, by a distance, the last federal party to name a candidate in the NWT.

Michael McLeod is standing for re-election on behalf of the Liberals. Yanik D’Aigle will represent the Conservatives, Paul Falvo the Greens, and Luke Quinlan the People’s Party.

Without going into detail, the NDP on Thursday promised to produce a “bold plan to make everyday life more affordable and services more available for people in the Northwest Territories.”