NANAIMO — Voters are turning out in higher-than-usual numbers to cast ballots in advance polls in the high-stakes Jan. 30 provincial Nanaimo byelection, which has the potential to change the government.
Advance polls opened Tuesday and continue through Sunday.
Total voters on Tuesday and Wednesday reached 3,188, surpassing the first two days of advance polling in the riding in 2017, when 2,955 ballots were cast, Elections B.C. said Thursday.
> For more on the Nanaimo byelection, go to timescolonist.com/bcelection
Nanaimo’s Charles Catney was among those early voters, but he’s mum about which of the six candidates won his support.
Running are Justin Greenwood for the B.C. Conservatives, Liberal Tony Harris, New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson, Green candidate Michele Ney, Robin Richardson with the Vancouver Island Party, and Bill Walker for the Libertarian Party.
Catney said he is concerned about the homeless situation in Nanaimo.
“There should have been something done a lot time ago,” he said. “We are now getting to the point where there are people sleeping on the street.” Many are hunkered down in camper-trailers, he said.
He echoed another common theme in the campaign: that Nanaimo does not get the attention it should. Local transportation issues are ignored, he said during a walk in Maffeo Sutton waterfront Park.
This byelection counts in a way that most don’t, as the results could tip the scales of power at the legislature.
Currently, the NDP-Green partnership holds 44 seats and the Liberals have 42. If Harris wins the riding for the Liberals, it will create a 43-43 tie, leaving Speaker Darryl Plecas to cast the deciding vote. Plecas was elected as a Liberal but removed from the party after accepting the position of Speaker. He now sits as an Independent, and a bid to have him recalled is underway.
The NDP has held the riding for 20 years, winning each time with more than 40 per cent of the vote. Leonard Krog resigned as MLA late last year after a landslide victory in the Nanaimo mayor’s race.
Malcolmson, who stepped down as MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith to run, has been bolstered by a steady stream of cabinet ministers and visits from Premier John Horgan. She is backed by the NDP’s election organization, renowned for its effectiveness and ability to get supporters to the polls.
Forests Minister Don Donaldson was at Nanaimo’s Coastland Mill on Thursday promoting the government’s recently announced plan to boost secondary manufacturing of B.C. logs, saying it will create and sustain local jobs.
In Victoria, Horgan pointed to government initiatives such as housing, child care, education and health care.
“We’ve been doing our level best to make our case to the people of Nanaimo that in the time that we’ve had as government, we’ve been delivering for the people of the community,” he said.
Harris, the Liberal candidate, is concentrating on local issues, saying: “We need to focus on how to improve our community.”
He said he understands the provincial magnitude of election’s outcome, but said he is staying focused on Nanaimo’s needs. “We’ve been overlooked for a long time.”
Nanaimo needs diverse economic development that will lead to well-paying jobs and careers, creating incentives for young people to remain in the community, he said.
Asked Thursday whether allegations of financial mismanagement at the legislature would affect voters in Nanaimo, Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said: “The people of British Columbia are going to have their first chance to pass judgment on these kinds of things next week in a byelection. Whether that’s affected by this, I don’t know.
“I’m calling for a complete clearing of the air on this so that people can have trust in this institution,” Wilkinson said.
“I didn’t give up a career to come over here and be in this squalid world of petty accounting problems. I came over here to serve the public.”
— With files from Katie DeRosa, Times Colonist
