Yellowknife (June 25/03) - A rallying call to voters fed up with consensus-style government may launch a new political party in the November territorial election.

The turnout at an advertised public meeting in the Yellowknife Curling Club Thursday night will likely decide the matter, an organizer said.

"We'll see how it goes and go from there," said Dave McPherson, president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.

McPherson is one "25 or 30 names" on a mailing list of "mostly business" people who have met privately in Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik over the last month.

They sponsored newspaper ads that invite "all those fed up with NWT politics to come to the aid of a party" promising to deliver a "strong central government."

The same ad also attacked the territorial government as ineffective and not accountable to voters.

McPherson said all in the group agree that a legislature with political parties "will make a better system. Whether we can mobilize is another thing."

The group wants to expand its membership base beyond business lobbyists, but is "trying not to affiliate with an existing party. We want to focus the debate on whether consensus government is appropriate" for the territories, McPherson said.

A poor turnout at tomorrow's meeting will mean "we'll have to go back to the drawing board."

That might not leave time to hold a founding convention, draft policies, raise money and nominate candidates -- jobs the group has penciled in for the summer and fall.

McPherson said the idea of "changing to a party model has been discussed in the last two elections," but voters ignored the issue.

The only reason the consensus system survives he said, is that those on the outside "don't know how to change the system, and the people inside are quite happy with it."

Territorial election campaigns without party platforms give voters "no idea what candidates stand for, and no way to hold them accountable," he said.

"The people with the fanciest sign form the government."