SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce hosted two election forums leading up to Monday's election.

Candidates gathered at city hall on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Wednesday, Oct. 14. Split into two groups, they fielded questions from chamber members and some from the floor.

After a round of introductions, moderator David MacPherson asked about their long-term plan for stimulating growth in the downtown, how they would encourage businesses and residents to locate to Yellowknife and how they would lobby the GNWT to keep the cost of doing business down.

With four incumbent councillors and five relatively new faces, optimism for new approaches squared off against the momentum and insight of experience Tuesday.

Francis Chang, Amanda Mallon, Tara Kearsey, Bob Brooks, Paul Falvo, Mark Heyck, Lydia Bardak, Jeff Corradetti and John Dalton took turns sharing their perspectives on Tuesday night.

The incumbent councillors took more measured approaches, discussing the practicality of implementing ideas using background on what the city has done and has tried to do. New candidates varied between being critical of the past council and discussing how they'd build upon what was already in progress.

When asked about the incentives they'd use to attract new businesses and residents, the issue of safety and cleaning up the downtown took centre stage.

"The major impediment is safety. People don't feel safe in the downtown core," said Mallon.

When focus moved to attracting new people to the city, candidates stressed the need for a new marketing campaign for Yellowknife.

"Maybe we need to reach out to immigrants," said Bardak.

Phil Moon Son, executive director of the NWT Construction Association, asked about a local procurement policy.

The incumbent councillors were guarded in their support of an official policy.

"We have, from year to year, spent between 85 and 90 per cent of purchases that have been local," Heyck said, adding council was already practising buying locally.

Without the background of previous setbacks, aspiring councillors had fewer reservations.

"There's more than one way to skin a cat. If we wanted to shop locally, we could find ways to do it," said Chang. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Wednesday night's debate garnered a packed gallery as the three prospective mayors joined the would-be councillors.

Rick Poltaruk, Gord Van Tighem, Varick Ollerhead, Cory Vanthuyne, David Wind, Dave McCann, Shelagh Montgomery, David Prichard, Bryan Sutherland and John Westergreen took turns sharing their goals and pet projects.

This time MacPherson kept a tally of ongoing issues, counting the mentions of safety, crime, litter, long-term planning.

When discussing making the downtown an attractive business location, safety and social issues took the forefront again. Many councillors said they hoped the day shelter would improve safety concerns.

Sutherland suggested starting a downtown business coalition but also said there are issues that must be resolved first.

"Selling drugs, screaming, swearing, fighting staggering drunk, littering and loitering, with these issues resolved a long-term plan would be viable," said Sutherland. "I don't quite understand why we tolerate these disturbances."

"If we live in fear we have nothing left to lose. We need to develop programs and solutions that deal with the problems," said Poltaruk.

Other candidates opposed prioritizing the downtown area.

Ollerhead said "focus is too slanted" on the downtown core.

"A bit of the money that's been spent downtown repaving perfectly good streets … I would much prefer to see that money spent doing grooming on Old Airport Road," he said.