Thursday, January 3, 2019 ~ VANCOUVER ISLAND
~ West Shore Voice News
Yesterday a 28-day battle for the Nanaimo seat in the BC Legislature was launched, when Premier John Horgan called a by-election for the seat left vacant when former Leonard Krog ran and won as Mayor of Nanaimo in October 2018.
Three parties each have a strong candidate, and the race is on toward the January 30, 2019 by-election.
BC-NDP candidate Sheila Malcolmson is considered a strong front-runner due to her service as an MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith since 2015 (and NDP Critic for Women’s Equality) and enjoying significant party support on the island. Her campaign kickoff event is on Saturday January 5 (10 am to 11 am) at which Premier John Horgan will help with the launch.
Malcolmson said on the first day of the campaign: “Today is the start of the most significant by-election campaign we’ve ever had in BC. The stakes are high and the choice is clear – we can continue to build a strong future with John Horgan and the BC NDP, or we can risk going back to the BC Liberals and their record of cutting services and making your life more expensive.”
Malcomson has in recent months as MP supported cleaning up abandoned vessels, fighting to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, and keeping plastics out of the ocean. She supports a passenger ferry service linking Nanaimo and Vancouver.
BC Green candidate Michele Ney — a retired teacher with political family roots in Nanaimo, said in her statement today that “this election is a unique opportunity for people to vote with their conscience and their hearts”.
Ney says that adding another Green voice to the legislature “ensures good public policy that benefits people in the long-term, and that decisions made will positively impact our wonderful city that’s been neglected for too long”.
Ney’s launch event will be on Sunday, January 6 from 1 to 5 pm at her campaign office, 2-1601 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo.
BC Liberal candidate Tony Harris wants to see the focus of the campaign be about Nanaimo, more so than the broader politics. In a statement today Harris said: “Just hours into the Nanaimo by-election, unfortunately the NDP decided to make it all about politics rather than about our city and ideas to make it an even better place for our hard working families.”
Harris articulates the need to address a range of issues that impact Nanaimo but are for the most part are provincially-determined: new investments in health care, improved transit and transportation options, and ways to collaboratively address homelessness challenges.
Harris says that Nanaimo is the economic hub of the Mid and North Island.
Day 1: Premier Horgan calls Nanaimo By-Election