A former New Democratic MP wants to get back to the House of Commons as the Yukon's next federal representative and it's not Audrey McLaughlin or Louise Hardy.

Wally Firth, the 69-year-old former MP for the Northwest Territories, is the third and final entrant in the race to be the NDP's Yukon standard bearer in the next federal election after announcing his entry into the contest late last week.

He joins unionist Jean-Francois Des Lauriers and Pam Boyde, the former assistant to then-government leader Piers McDonald.

Firth represented the Northwest Territories from 1972 to 1979, as a New Democrat during the reign of Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

While the Dene man was born in Fort McPherson and represented the N.W.T. in Ottawa, he's lived in the Yukon for the past 3 1/2 years.

Now, he wants back in the House of Commons, this time to represent Yukoners.

'I think Yukoners have to realize they need a member of Parliament on the opposition side,' Firth said in an interview last Thursday.

Some people have praised the Yukon's current MP, Liberal Larry Bagnell, for bringing more federal money into the territory.

But Firth believes that funding would have flowed into the territory regardless of the political stripe of the MP.

He said the money becomes more visible when there is a government MP because it's presented publicly instead of just being delivered by mail.

According to Firth, a government MP is just an overpaid mailman.

The Yukon, with just one MP, needs that person on the opposition benches because a government member cannot question the ministers on behalf of the constituents and must vote with the ruling party, he said.

'(A member of the governing party) is quite ineffective as a member for this riding,' he said.

'The benefit for Yukon is to have an experienced member of Parliament who can speak for Yukoners,' Firth said.

He is the only one of the three NDP contenders who have sat in the House of Commons.

Saturday was the deadline for people to enter the NDP nomination race.

McLaughlin is the only, living, former leader of the NDP not running in the next election.

Former leaders Ed Broadbent, in Ottawa, and Alexa McDonough, in Halifax, will run.

Firth is also entering the race because he believes the next election will leave Canada with a minority government in Ottawa.

He was an MP in the last minority regime that lasted more than a year. The Liberals had a minority from 1972 to 1974.

Firth said a lot was accomplished because it was a minority, since the government had to listen to the wishes of the opposition to stay alive.

While he has only lived here for 3 1/2 years, Firth said, he's not unknown to Yukoners. In his days as a bush pilot in the late-1960s and early-1970s, Firth worked in the Yukon periodically with legendary aboriginal leader Elijah Smith.

'I can walk down the street in any community in the Yukon and people know me.'

He believes it takes time for a person to become a good MP. With his experience, Firth said, he can jump right into the job and do a good job for Yukoners.

Firth said he can get the attention for Yukoners' issues in the Commons.

'I'm pretty high-profile in that House I stand out like a sore thumb.'

If he wins the nomination, it will be Firth's fifth federal campaign.

After winning in 1972 and 1974, both times by more than 1,200 votes, Firth stepped aside because he had accomplished what he'd wanted to in Ottawa.

But when Georges Erasmus finished third for the NDP in the Western Arctic riding in 1979 to Tory Dave Nickerson, Firth wanted back in.

'Nickerson won and that cheesed me off,' he said.

Firth ran against Nickerson in 1980 and missed out on regaining the seat for the NDP by 20 votes.

His last run was for the Western Arctic seat in 1997. Firth ran for the NDP nomination, lost, then ran as an independent.

'I wasn't proud of that. I did that in anger,' he said.

Firth was upset with the New Democrats at the time. He finished fifth in that race, with 4,000 fewer votes than the winner, Liberal Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

The nomination meeting for the New Democrats will be on Apr. 3.