Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a federal byelection for the riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith Sunday, choosing May 6 as the date voters will cast ballots for their next MP.
The B.C. riding was vacated in January by NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson, who left her seat in Parliament to run in the provincial byelection in Nanaimo, which she ended up winning.
Michelle Corfield, who currently serves as chair of the Nanaimo Port Authority, has already been named as the Liberal candidate for the federal byelection.
Bob Chamberlin, vice-president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs who has also served as chief counsellor of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation on Gilford Island since 2005, announced last week he intends to seek the NDP nomination for the riding.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have named businessman John Hirst as their candidate, while Paul Manly has secured the nomination for the Green Party. Jennifer Clarke will run for the People’s Party of Canada.
WATCH: (Aired Feb. 26) Jagmeet Singh wins federal byelection in Burnaby South
The byelection is the fourth race Trudeau has had to call this year ahead of October’s federal election.
In January, the prime minister called byelections for three ridings, including Burnaby South, where NDP leader Jagmeet Singh ultimately won his seat in Parliament more than a year after nabbing the party’s leadership.
That seat was vacated in October 2018 after NDP MP Kennedy Stewart successfully sought the mayor’s chair in Vancouver.
The other two byelections — in Outremont, Que., and York–Simcoe, Ont. — saw the Liberals win the Quebec seat back from the NDP, but the party was unable to oust the Conservatives from the Ontario riding.
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