SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - George Lessard, who has been volunteering as one of CBC North's "Your Take" blogger, said he has been "permanently banned" from Sandy Lee's Conservative Party Facebook page.

Terry Halifax, a Beaufort-Delta Conservative campaign committee member, said he took issue with Lessard's new media coverage. He reported his concerns in a letter to CBC's ombudsman stating Lessard's coverage is biased, citing "condescending and disparaging remarks" about party candidate Sandy Lee. As one of the administrators of the Conservative Facebook page, Halifax banned Lessard.

"He joined our Facebook page and started openly engaging a debate on the page and posting some one-sided, in my view, views of the campaign," said Halifax. "I just don't think that there is a place for that in publicly-funded journalism ... I just wanted the CBC to take notice that we take offence to that."

Lessard said Halifax has a right to his opinion and has a right as a citizen to contact the corporation's ombudsman.

"I just find it rather odd that a political party, which is trying to garner as many votes as possible, closes its group to any one voter," said Lessard.

He said it is an "intolerable way" to treat voters.

"I am not a paid journalist from CBC. This is about just gathering people's opinions. I was asking for opinions on their side ... Well, the door got slammed in my face. I didn't like that very much," he said.

Layton to visit Yellowknife

Yellowknife has been the destination for two federal party leaders over the past few days, and now the city will be the destination for a third.

Western Arctic MP incumbent Dennis Bevington's NDP campaign office confirmed Tuesday that their leader Jack Layton has plans to head North some time next week.

Layton's visit will come a week after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff stopped in to visit the territory at the same time.

Bevington said it's an uncommon occurrence for two party leaders to converge on one place simultaneously.

"Nobody wanted that to happen I'm sure," he said. "I think the fact that both the Liberals and Conservatives are here at the same time kind of didn't give either of them the impact that they were looking for. I think that neither of them had centre stage."

Green party goes Hollywood

As you drive toward downtown Yellowknife on Highway 3, you may notice a new addition to the scenery. On Sunday, Green Party candidate Eli Purchase and volunteers from his campaign team cut pieces of plywood, painted them and mounted them atop a cliff on the left-hand side of the road.

The sign, stating "Vote Green" mimics the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California, which stands 14-metres tall.

"It's one-fifth scale of the Hollywood sign. Each letter is cut from an eight-by-four-foot piece of plywood," said Purchase.

"We thought it would be fun. We thought people would get a laugh out of it."

He said the sign was erected in time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's visit on Sunday and Monday.

"You need to get the message out there and what better way to have it up there and visible. It looks pretty cool," said Purchase.

He said it took about five hours for three people to cut the letters and three hours to set everything up on the cliff with about seven helpers.

Purchase is holding true to his green message; he headed to Fort Providence on Tuesday, carpooling with competing candidates both ways.

"I'm catching a ride to (Fort) Providence with Dennis Bevington and then catching a ride back to Yellowknife with Joe Handley so we're getting a lot of co-operation from the different candidates up here," said Purchase.

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