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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Candidates in the Western Arctic are lining up on the racetrack ready to leap out of the gate for a looming fall election - including the Liberal Party, who have yet to secure a secure a candidate.

The election call is expected to come this week. Media reports indicate the vote may happen Oct. 14.

At this point, their presumptive candidate for the Liberals is Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott, a former chair of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board.

Mackenzie-Scott said with all the attention on Arctic sovereignty and sustainability her thoughts are that control needs to be put back in the hands of Northerners.

"I think the real question that the people in the North need to ask themselves is what is it that we really want."

She said she represents the aboriginal perspective.

"I've also learned that you need to work as a team together and listen to what people are saying," said Mackenzie-Scott.

"We are different in the North, it's not like politics in the south. We will run a clean campaign here," she said.

But she worries that all the attention to the Arctic is really only about the resources and not about the people.

The NWT has had a lot of attention from Ottawa in recent days. A lineup of Conservative cabinet ministers visited the territories in August - Peter MacKay, Diane Ablonczy, Chuck Strahl, Rob Nicholson and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper have all set foot north of 60.

NDP incumbent Dennis Bevington is ready to campaign but he's critical of the rush to the polls.

"It's going against his own law," said Bevington.

"The prime minister set fixed elections, he hasn't lost the confidence of the House because he hasn't been defeated in the House, so for him to say the House is dysfunctional - I don't know how he can say that because that simply is not the case."

He said the last two and a half years have been one election scare after another, "so you have to continually be prepared for an election in the current political climate."

Bevington said the NDP earn their support by being hard-working members of Parliament. "We're a very strong caucus who work hard for our constituents and I think voters recognize that."

Conservative party candidate Brendan Bell is also ready. "We've got to be ready all the time," said Bell.

The Conservative candidate said he's been working behind the scenes to bridge the gap between Ottawa and the territorial government to help build and even stronger relationship.

"It's a great time for the Arctic," he said. Bell explained a number of issues in the Arctic are top-priority for Prime Minister Harper.

"Ultimately," he said, "in a minority government situation, it's the opposition who decides if they're going to work with the government to support our agenda or if they're going to bring the government down."

Bell said even as an unelected Conservative he has to represent the interests of Arctic communities in an unofficial capacity. "It's no coincidence that the prime minister is going to the premier (Floyd Roland's) home town."

In June, the Green Party chose their candidate - 30-year-old Sam Gamble of Yellowknife. Gamble currently works for the GNWT Department of Transportation. This will be his first election but he said he's ready for the hard work ahead.

"We have to work harder than the other parties to get our message out there, so people understand what we're really all about," he said.

The Green party has a platform that encompasses more than just the environment, he said: "We have strong positions on foreign policy and the economy, employment, social justice and crime - people need to understand that we're about more than common sense environment policy."