Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Spending large doesn't assure victory on election day, but in a three-week sprint to the polls, it's one way for candidates to make an impression with voters.

Even before NWT chief electoral officer Saundra Arberry dropped the election writ Monday, many candidates in Yellowknife's seven constituencies had rented office space, launched websites and signed printing contracts for posters and signs that are blooming on lawns like mushrooms after an autumn rain.

"We're working long nights to get it all done on time," said Derek Burns, manager at Signs and Designs which has printed posters for a half-dozen candidates and had to turn two others away.

Big signs don't come cheap. It costs $275 for a candidate to put a name and slogan in two colours on a four-by eight-foot sheet of plastic, said Burns, and $50 more for a picture.

"My experience is that candidates like to spend as little as possible," said Dawna Marriott at Inkit Ltd., a graphic design and printing company.

The NWT Elections Act limits campaign spending to $30,000.

A handful of candidates posted expenses of more than $20,000 in the 2003 territorial election, but only Robert Hawkins, who spent more than $28,000 to win Yellowknife Centre, came close to the red line.

In the 2003 election when five of the 19 seats were decided by acclamation, nine of the top spenders won their ridings.

Unlike 2003 when Yellowknife South and Weledeh were decided by acclamation, all of the city seats are expected to have two or more candidates when nominations close later today.