The Nanaimo provincial by-election did not live up to the hype. Will the Burnaby South federal by-election?
By-elections, says theBreaker.news Podcast guest Mario Canseco of Research Co, have less identification with leaders and less media exposure. But Burnaby will buck the trend, because of the spotlight on NDP leader/parachute candidate Jagmeet Singh. Singh is fighting internal forces to retain his leadership as he aims to take Kennedy Stewart’s vacated seat in the House of Commons..
Canseco said Singh’s future hinges upon the NDP caucus lining-up behind him, en route to Feb. 25.
“If we wind up in a situation where nobody from the NDP federally, nobody of name, nobody with certain fame knocks on doors with Jagmeet Singh, then that’s going to send a message that he’s way in over his head and he’s doing it alone,” Canseco told host Bob Mackin in this week’s feature interview.
Meanwhle, the NDP’s Sheila Malcolmson handily defeated BC Liberal Tony Harris, while Green Michele Ney finished a distant third in the Nanaimo vote. A BC Liberal win would’ve brought B.C. closer to a provincial election. Ontario’s Mainstreet Research was way-off when it predicted a Harris win by double digits.
Canseco said the wildcard in Nanaimo was the release of Speaker Darryl Plecas’s scathing report on corruption at the B.C. Legislature. Clerk Craig James was a BC Liberal appointee and evidence pointed to a cozy relationship between James and the party.
“It made a lot of people, who maybe were flirting with voting for the Liberals, a little bit uneasy about the situation,” he said.
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