Change has come to the region with several new MPs waiting to take their seat in the House of Commons for the first time.
Across Vancouver Island electors voted for change in the North Island, Nanaimo Ladysmith, Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke and Victoria.
However, Saanich-Gulf Islands and West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky and Courtenay-Alberni ridings will retain their current MPs until the next federal election.
NDP MP-elect Gord Johns will once again represent his riding of Courtenay-Alberni, while Liberal MP-elect Patrick Weiler will sit for residents of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coat-Sea to Sky and Elizabeth May for Saanich-Gulf Islands.
In the North Island, the Conservative Party of Canada’s candidate Aaron Gunn defeated Tanille Johnston of the NDP with close to 28,850 votes, while in Nanaimo-Ladysmith was handed to the Conservative Party’s candidate Tamara Kronis as she defeated incumbent Lisa Marie Barron with an estimated 26,000 votes.
In Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, a changing of the guards saw Jeffery Kibble of the Conservative Party defeat NDP incumbent Alistair MacGregor with a victory of almost 26,500 votes.
MP-elect Kronis says the campaigning was a real eye-opener, and hearing concerns from residents allows her to know which issues to bring forward when she takes her set in the House of Commons, but it’ll take a team effort.
“I’m going to get to know the other local elected officials to start addressing some of the issues that affect us,” she says. “The issues are still the cost of living, housing, and the opioid crisis and the effects of it.
“I’ll be looking to work with all my elected and unelected counterparts and the citizens to make sure the things that we’re asking for in Ottawa are what we want and need.”
Kronis says overall, she’s grateful the election in the riding was clean and is thankful to all candidates who put their name forward.
“I’m really glad we ran a warm campaign, one that was hopeful and stuck to the issues,” she says. “I am grateful to Lisa, Paul, Michelle, and Stephen for putting their hat in the ring, and having won and lost I now understand the contribution they’ve made.”
While MP-elect Johns says, regardless of the outcome on the island he intends to work just as hard now as he did in the past for his riding and island residents.
“My job is to work together across political lines to ensure we’re unified, and to make sure that people have a strong seat at the table,” he says.
Johns adds it’s important to support one another and stand united to help stand up against the threat of tariffs and put aside any differences.
