HIGH HOPES FOR HARRIS
Liberals name byelection candidate
VICTORIA B.C.’s opposition Liberals are hoping a Nanaimo businessman with a high-profile family name can help win a critical byelection that would deal a serious blow to the stability of Premier John Horgan’s government.
Tony Harris, whose late father Tom founded a successful chain of car dealerships and mobile phone franchises on Vancouver Island, was announced as the party’s presumptive candidate Wednesday by Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson.
“Nanaimo has never realized its full potential and that’s because for years and years we’ve sent the same party to Victoria with the same results,” said Harris. “They haven’t gotten Nanaimo the attention it deserves and Nanaimo is taken for granted. The focus is on Victoria and Vancouver, and they don’t take us seriously.”
Harris will be up against local NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson in the byelection, which is likely to occur in January. The riding will be vacated by NDP MLA Leonard Krog, who recently won the city’s mayoral race.
The fate of Horgan’s NDP government hangs in the balance with the byelection. 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 long term and would likely result in an early election.
On paper, Nanaimo would appear to be a steep uphill battle for the Liberals. The riding has been held by the NDP for every election except two since 1963. The Liberals tried to run a young high-tech entrepreneur in the 2017 election, to reflect, they said, Nanaimo’s evolution from a coal and mill town to a more modern economy. Yet the Liberals only lost more ground to Krog and the NDP.
However, the Liberal party’s hopes have been buoyed by a recent internal party poll. Almost 32 per cent of people surveyed indicated they were decided or leaning toward voting B.C. Liberal in Nanaimo, compared with 41 per cent NDP and 10 per cent Green. While still trailing, the figures put the Liberals theoretically within striking distance depending on the strength of their campaign, as well as the performances of Harris and Wilkinson.
The poll also indicated federal party preferences in Nanaimo, with 17 per cent of people expressing support for the federal NDP, 14 per cent Greens, 28 per cent federal Liberals and 27 per cent for the Conservatives.
The survey was conducted by Liberal-friendly pollster Dimitri Pantazopoulos’ Maple Leaf Strategies from Oct. 26-28, with 408 people surveyed and a margin of error of 4.8 per cent.
“There’s no question it’s going to be an uphill battle,” said B.C. Liberal executive director Emile Scheffel.
“But you’ll see from those numbers that where the federal NDP’s Sheila Malcolmson is coming from is not the powerful brand they maybe once were in the riding. And given our big tent coalition with the federal Liberals and federal Conservatives, and a high-profile candidate with the history in the community that Tony has, we think we are very well-positioned to win in this community.”
Malcolmson conceded “the Harris family is a strong Nanaimo family name,” but said it was odd Harris is already attacking the NDP government’s speculation tax and calling for its repeal.
“It was curious, given everything I’ve heard from people on the ground, that he says we need more tools to address the affordability crisis that’s hit Nanaimo really hard,” said Malcolmson.
“The affordability study that was done this year found Nanaimo’s housing market to be ‘severely unaffordable.’ Why anybody would want to limit the tools is a surprise to me.”
Harris said he also wants to champion a new cancer treatment centre and a foot ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver.