Wednesday, January 2, 2019 ~ VANCOUVER ISLAND.
~ by West Shore Voice News
Today Wednesday January 2, Premier John Horgan has called a by-election for the Nanaimo electoral district for Wednesday, January 30, 2019. The campaign period is 28 days.
The seat became vacant when Leonard Krog resigned as MLA on November 30, 2018.
For information on voting and registering to vote, call Elections BC toll-free at 1 800 661-8683 or visit: www.elections.bc.ca
Candidates running for the Nanaimo seat are Sheila Malcolmson (BC NDP), Michelle Ney (BC Green), and Tony Harris (BC Liberal).
Malcolmson is currently the federal Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, serving a first term in that role.
Ney has a long history in Nanaimo, with her father a former mayor of the city.
Harris is a sixth-generation Nanaimo resident, the businessman is son of the late Tom Harris.
The fate of Horgan’s NDP minority government may hang in the balance with the by-election.
If the NDP loses the seat to the Liberals, the legislature would be tied at 43 votes between the Liberals and the NDP-Green power-sharing alliance. Speaker Darryl Plecas would need to break tie votes to decide on legislation, a situation that experts have said is untenable for the longterm and would likely result in an early election (ahead of 2021).
This election put Vancouver Island NDP politics squarely in the public eye over the holiday season and comes just ahead of the province’s Budget 2019 in February.
For this by-election, residents of the Nanaimo electoral district are eligible to vote in the by-election if they are:
• 18 or older on January 30, 2019,
• a Canadian citizen, and
• a resident of B.C. since July 29, 2018.
Eligible voters who are not on the voters list must register or update their information by midnight today online at elections.bc.ca/ovr or by phone at 1-800-661-8683. After midnight today, eligible voters can only register in person at voting opportunities.
Candidate nominations for the Nanaimo by-election close at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. Nominations may be filed with the Chief Electoral Officer until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 4, 2019. After this time, they may be filed with the Nanaimo District Electoral Officer, up to the deadline on January 9. Find out more at elections.bc.ca/provincial-elections/provincial-candidates/ .
Advance voting will be available over six days from Tuesday, January 22 to Sunday, January 27, 2019 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Advance voting places and the dates and times they are open will be published on the Elections BC website, in community newspapers, and on Where to Vote cards that will be sent to Nanaimo voters before advance voting starts. All advance voting places are wheelchair accessible.
General Voting Day is January 30, 2019. Voting places will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Three candidates in the race for Nanaimo seat (December 2018)