Sheila Malcolmson is the new MLA for Nanaimo as the NDP held onto the riding with 49% of the popular vote in Wednesday's by-election.
Speaking in front of a crowd of cheering supporters chanting "Sheila, Sheila" Malcolmson said she will get to work right away. "We've got a lot of work to do starting tomorrow. We are building affordable housing, we are expanding childcare. We are getting an urgent primary care centre, more doctors for people. We are standing up and protecting the coast. We are defending against the risk of expanded oil tankers. We are protecting from oil spills and we are protecting jobs doing it. And we are making sure, carrying on the project the NDP has been working on the last year and half with the Greens, that we are ratcheting down climate change emissions in the most ambitious program North America has. And, we are building green jobs while doing it."
The by-election was triggered after longtime NDP MLA Leonard Krog stepped down to run for the mayor's chair in Nanaimo. Malcolmson says she is honoured to continue the work Krog started and she's excited to work with him as the new mayor.
Premier John Horgan was at NDP headquarters with Malcolmson and said the win is a pivotal moment for the party. "This means we can continue to deliver on the issues that we campaigned on a year and a half ago and Sheila's been campaigning on for the last month.”
Meanwhile, at the Liberal Headquarters, Tony Harris says he’s proud of the campaign he ran. "We weren't expecting a slam dunk by any stretch. This is Nanaimo after all. It's probably the most difficult riding in the province of British Columbia to win for anybody that isn't NDP. I'm very proud of the work that our team did and the campaign that we ran. It was positive, it was forward thinking, and uplifting."
The NDP earned 49.22 % of the popular vote, followed by the Liberals at 40.47%, the Greens at 7.38%, and the Conservatives with 2.06%. The Vancouver Island Party and the Libertarians earned 0.47% and 0.4 % respectively.