Erik Nielsen was once a political power house both in the Yukon and Canada.

He served as the territory's member of Parliament from 1957 until 1987. Under former prime minister Joe Clark, he was the minister of Public Works. Under Brian Mulroney, he served as deputy prime minister and minister of National Defence.

But now Nielsen is a little over a month away from his 82nd birthday and he hasn't been involved in any federal campaigns since he ran for the last time in 1984.

No candidates for this month's election, from any of the parties, have approached him for advice on how to run a campaign, he says.

'They probably wouldn't like what I have to say anyways, because things have changed and I'm no longer part of the old fabric,' Nielsen told the Star over the weekend.

Nielsen is in Whitehorse for two weeks. He will be departing the territory just before the Jan. 23 polling date to return to his winter home in Kelowna, B.C.

He's dropped into Conservative candidate Sue Greetham's office and picked up her campaign material. He's chatted with her and he doesn't entirely agree with how the Conservatives are running their campaign in their previously long-held riding.

Greetham has publicly stated she doesn't intend to spend much time knocking on doors. She was acclaimed on Dec. 17 and is currently still struggling to make up lost time. In doing so, she is focusing on speaking to large groups.

The party should have nominated a candidate at the 'earliest possible moment,' says Nielsen.

He doesn't agree with Greetham's decision not to knock on doors, though he understands her logic.

'There's very little time left to be knocking on doors, but that can't be laid at any candidates' feet. It's more of a lack of organizational readiness of the executive.

'I wouldn't go into any campaign without planning to knock on a lot of doors. That's the way you make friends, that's the way you learn about what people are thinking and what people want to see.'

Each time a candidate knocks on a door, he or she has a chance of walking away from it with a friend, he says. Knock on it twice and you've got a supporter, he adds.

Nielsen, though, doesn't want to 'speak politically' to the candidates, to Yukoners or to the Star. Nor does he think it would make much difference in the campaign if he did.

Audrey McLaughlin, a former MP and the NDP's former leader another heavyweight in Yukon politics has stepped forward and thrown her support behind the party's candidate, Pam Boyde.

Nielsen says the move won't likely make much of a difference in the end.

McLaughlin didn't receive 100 per cent support when she was in politics, just as the NDP won't receive that kind of support in this election, he says.

McLaughlin's name next to Boyde's may bring in a few more votes for the NDP, but it's not going to change the final outcome of the election, he says.

'It will never cease to amaze me, the extent to which Canadians will tolerate corruption,' he says. He made the same comment to the Star following the June 2004 election when Paul Martin's Liberals formed a minority government.

The poll results issued over the weekend suggest this time it might be the Conservatives winning this election with 37 per cent of the popular vote. The Liberals are lagging at 29 per cent.

'The polls seem to have the hope (the Liberals won't win). I hope (the Liberals) won't, but can see the same thing happening (as 2004).

'Polls are fairly indicative of what people are thinking at the moment. What they do when they go behind the curtain is something else.'

Whoever wins, Nielsen suspects it's going to be another minority government and that's going to accelerate change in Canadian politics.

'I think the existing major political parties will be absorbed by change. I can see some semblance of it now,' he says.

'They will re-emerge not as the Liberal party and not as the Conservatives. But however they re-emerge, as Whites or Reds or Doers or Non-Doers or whatever, they will be a cohesion of the remnants that were left from the destruction, the capsizing of the existing parties. They will implode, I think.

'The need for replenishing the vacant interior is going to be realized by sufficient numbers of people that will cause an influx of new blood. The cause of that influx will be shaped, I think, by new political sources.'

It's 'weird thinking', says Nielsen.

It is thinking he knows many won't agree with, and he suspects it's part of the reason candidates, party executives and maybe even Yukoners may not really like what he has to say when it comes to today's politics.

Today's politics, and even the campaign, are very different then when he first ran for politics in 1957. Even in the almost-20 years since he retired in 1987, things have changed, he says.

During his campaigns, he travelled with a four-piece band and put on a dance at each of his stops on the election trail where the communities didn't get to see bands or have dances on a regular basis.

He also pulled 'election stunts' like riding around Whitehorse on a beat-up bicycle after incumbent Liberal MP James Aubrey Simmons arrived in town in a brand new Cadillac.

Today, though, the 'social fabric' of the Yukon has been altered so 'considerably' the campaign methodology has changed.

The concept in the Yukon used to be 'everyone helps each other', but it is now people waiting for whatever level of government to help them, he says.

'If I, by myself, am in trouble, I have no need to worry, because I needn't be helped by anyone but the government,' says Nielsen. '(Government) will help you by cash or whatever handouts, grants. That's not just a hope, that is an expected way of life.'

It's not just an attitude that has infiltrated the Yukon, but much of Canada, he says, and it is that lack of individual independence that has changed politics and campaigning.

Federal elections are now candidates and leaders standing on 'a soap box' and making 'empty promises,' he says.

Work in politics used to not be about 'loyalty to Canada' but 'love of the country', he says.

It was love of country and wanting to use political activity to improve assets and to better the lives of citizens that previously motivated many politicians, adds Nielsen.

That has also changed, he says. Nielsen sees today's political hopefuls as competing for a paycheque.

'There had to be more than simply money involved in running; you had to have a deeper commitment, a deeper reason, because it sure as hell didn't pay well. It pays now for people running...if they win. That has changed the complexion for the worse.'

The change can even be seen in how candidates speak, he adds. Too many focus on telling citizens what they will do for them.

'It's got to be we', not I',' he says. 'When a candidate speaks, I believe, you have to speak in such a fashion that you will involve those that are listening to you subliminally,' he says.

'We're going to do this, because we believe it's going to be better for all of us.' Sooner or later, it happens in a subliminal way, people go, Oh that's right, I better pitch in and help.''

However, one thing Nielsen doesn't believe has changed too much is the Conservative party despite the change of name from the Progressive Conservatives, to the joining with the Reform Party to become the Canadian Alliance, until finally the Conservative Party of Canada emerged.

'It's not so different, I don't think. I mean, they were all together under the Progressive Conservatives umbrella at one time. They split up and now they are all back together under the umbrella which is entitled Conservative, having dropped the progressive.''

As to if the Conservatives would serve Canada well as the governing party under the leadership of Stephen Harper, Nielsen says he'll wait until Jan. 23 and let public opinion decide to answer that question.