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HomeNewsMorris anticipating close battle in Nanaimo by-election, confident in candidate Tony Harris

Morris anticipating close battle in Nanaimo by-election, confident in candidate Tony Harris

It’s been an interesting time in BC politics and the plot is about to thicken by the end of the month as a crucial by-election has been called in Nanaimo.

The move needed to be made after longtime NDP MLA Leonard Krog left provincial politics last summer and eventually took the mayor’s chair in that community.

Even though the riding has historically been a New Democrat hot spot, Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris is quite confident in the candidate they selected.

“Tony Harris is a longtime resident, his family has been there since the 1800s, he is a businessman and is quite active with the community as well. We have some dynamic times ahead in the world of BC politics, the riding has been an NDP stronghold but I think we have a great candidate.”

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Harris will be running against former Nanaimo/Ladysmith Federal MP Sheila Malcomson who is running for the NDP while the Green Party has selected Michelle Ney to run.

Morris explains what the dynamics would like in Victoria if the Liberals were victorious.

“It would be a 43-43 tie and it would be left up to the speaker to determine the deciding vote on it – he’ll probably vote in favour of government but it still makes it tough to bring any legislation forward and in effect, they become lame-duck governments.”

The current Speaker of the House is Daryl Plecas and his situation isn’t exactly crystal clear either.

“We also have to keep in mind that we don’t know what’s going to happen with the speaker he sits in a spot where I understand there might be a recall campaign against him as well so it’s a dynamic world in the life of politics in BC and I’m sure there is going to be a lot of eyes focused on what we’re doing in the future and we’re just going to have to see what happens.”

The by-election takes place January 30th with the House resuming on February 12th.

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