By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

VIDEO: prime minister takes no questions, plenty of pictures during Nanaimo campaign stop

Mar 25, 2019 | 1:31 PM

NANAIMO — There were plenty of selfies and smiles but little substance as the prime minister made a campaign visit to Nanaimo.

Justin Trudeau visited the harbour city Monday, one day after announcing a byelection for May 6 to fill the vacant Nanaimo-Ladysmith seat in the House of Commons.

Trudeau walked along the waterfront in the inner harbour around 1 p.m., posing for pictures with Liberal Party of Canada candidate Michelle Corfield and chatting with supporters. He then had a brief, staged conversation with Corfield, before posing for more pictures and then leaving.

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Media were told at the beginning of the event Trudeau would not answer any questions.

NanaimoNewsNOW intended to ask the prime minister his reasons for calling the byelection, the third vote for Nanaimo residents in less than seven months, just five months ahead of the expected October federal election.

Elections Canada told NanaimoNewsNOW the average federal byelection comes with a $1.1 million price tag.

Monday’s low-key visit was in contrast to a feisty, campaign-style speech Trudeau delivered Sunday night in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding, as he introduced former TV news anchor Tamara Taggart as the riding’s Liberal candidate in the fall vote.

“It really is exciting for us to be able to have a strong presence here on the island, where there are so many big issues and where I feel so connected,” Trudeau said to Corfield as they chatted in front of assembled photographers.

Corfield told Trudeau she believed “we can have an environment and an economy.”

“Everyone gets that, everyone gets that,” Trudeau replied. “The resource is important, managing them properly is important. Keeping this extraordinary place as healthy as we can while we build a better future, all those things have to go together. There’s no simplistic answers, we need to bring them all together.”

Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May was in Nanaimo over the weekend campaigning alongside Green candidate Paul Manly.

The Conservative Party of Canada selected financial manager John Hirst as its candidate, while Jennifer Clarke, who lost the Conservative nomination to Hirst, was named to represent the new People’s Party of Canada, led by Quebec MP Maxime Bernier.

The NDP, who held the Nanaimo-Ladysmith seat until Sheila Malcolmson quit to take a successful run at provincial politics, have not named a candidate.

Prominent Indigenous leader Bob Chamberlin and former Nanaimo Pride Society president Lauren Semple have declared their intention to compete for the NDP nod.

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