With Canadian Idol scheduled to hold auditions in Whitehorse next month, Mayor Ernie Bourassa says he's looking to become the next William Hung.

The mayor made the statement with a laugh during an interview this morning following CTV's announcement that Whitehorse will be part of the show's audition tour.

Hung became famous for his bad performance auditioning for Canadian Idol's American counterpart, American Idol. It would eventually gain him a record deal.

Bourassa's dream of becoming the next William Hung won't happen through the Idol program though as he's a few years past the age limit of between 16 and 26 years.

Yukoners could be voting for a hometown favourite though during the third season of Canadian Idol later this year, after the popular CTV program holds auditions in Whitehorse on Feb. 26.

Auditions for the show, which sees viewers choose a favourite singer, will be held in 13 cities over 13 weeks. Besides Whitehorse, there will be auditions in Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, London, Toronto, Moncton, Charlottetown, Sydney and St. John's.

The Whitehorse audition marks the first time the show has been to any of the three territories, Scott Henderson, a spokesman for CTV, said from Toronto this morning.

He noted the move into the North and a number of provinces the show hasn't gone to is being done to expand the production's horizons.

While CTV is interested in eventually taking Canadian Idol to the Northwest Territories and Nunavut as well, it was decided they would start off in the Yukon, with the Whitehorse auditions for season three.

He pointed out the show will be in town at the same time the annual Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival is under way.

The entire audition tour is up an extra four cities, from nine last year.

As for how many Canadian Idol hopefuls are expected at the Whitehorse audition, Henderson said he has no idea.

While the Canadian Idol website at www.ctv.ca/idol, will have an RSVP section where contestants can let producers know they'll likely be at the audition, it has just begun for the upcoming season, he explained.

Last year, more than 100,000 Canadians auditioned for the show.

Details are also still being worked on for exactly where the auditions in Whitehorse will be held, Henderson said.

Sheila Dodd, the city's tourism supervisor, said today she showed two producers from the show around town last week while they were here for a day to find venues.

'They found lots of opportunities,' she said. They were looking for spots that were safe and where contestants standing in line could be able to have a place to warm up, she added.

In other cities where auditions have been held, some potential idols have camped out overnight, she said, adding the show's producers like to have security on the site to ensure its contestants' safety.

The producers looked at possible locations like Yukon College and the Yukon Convention Centre.

Bourassa said the impact on the city's tourism will depend largely on the exposure Whitehorse gets in the show and possibly the talent involved. He'e also sure there will be good Whitehorse artists trying out.

'It's hard to say at this point,' he said of the tourism potential from the exposure.

In the past, Canadian Idol audition cities have been featured on CTV shows like Canada AM and eTalk Daily.

While a Canada AM segment hasn't been confirmed for Whitehorse, Henderson said the city will be featured in an eTalk Daily segment.

The show sees successful contestants go through a number of auditions in an audition city before getting a gold ticket, which gets them to the next session of the show in Toronto.

'Canadian Idol is basically one long audition process,' Henderson said.

At the Whitehorse auditions, contestants will initially be in a line of five. If chosen from that, they do an individual audition, and if successful, they go before a panel of celebrity judges.

The celebrity judges include Farley Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Warner.

Henderson noted the celebrity judges who will be in Whitehorse still have to be confirmed.

It's also still unknown whether host Ben Mulroney will be in town for the show.

Henderson said Mulroney, the son of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, has a number of commitments with eTalk Daily, which he also hosts, but will be in Whitehorse 'if it's possible.'

There's no set limit on how many people across the country will get the gold ticket to Toronto for May, but in the last season, there were more than 100.

In Toronto, the number of contests is whittled down to 32, who are divided into groups of eight.

From there, the public voting portion of the show begins with each group of eight performing. Two members of each group are voted off through polls taken by phone or text massaging.

A wild card episode of the show allows for contestants voted off to return for an audition again, where viewers can vote for two singers they want to return.

Performers then continue through each week of the show, with the public voting for their favourite singer until the Canadian Idol of the season is chosen.

While the Whitehorse audition will likely see more Yukoners than previously try out, plans for a Yukon Idol contest have been scrapped.

Jessica Sturby is president of the Youth Making a Difference in Whitehorse group. She said this morning the group had been working since November on the Yukon contest that would have seen the winner flown to a Canadian Idol audition.

'(I was) kind of upset in a way,' she said of her reaction to the news that Canadian Idol will come to Whitehorse.

A lot of work had gone into the project that was set for next month, she said.

The Yukon Idol event would have seen auditions held on the first weekend in February with semi-finals the following weekend. Finally, on the last weekend of the month, a winner would have been chosen.

Sturby said the group hadn't decided what audition it would have flown the winner to.

The group is set to meet this evening to discuss what they will do in place of the Yukon Idol concept.

The Canadian Idol auditions will begin Feb. 11 in Vancouver. They will then move east to Calgary on Feb. 16, on to Saskatoon Feb. 21, and arrive in Whitehorse Feb. 26.

After the stint in Whitehorse, auditions will be in Winnipeg on March 1, Sudbury on March 5 and London on March 9.

Following a three-week break, the tour will begin again in Charlottetown on April 6. It will then move onto Sydney on April 9, St. John's on April 12, Moncton on April 15 and Montreal on April 19 before finishing in Toronto, with six days of auditions expected to start on April 15.

The third season is scheduled to begin airing this summer.