WATCH: In Nanaimo-Ladysmith, people are still digesting a shocker of an election result with Paul Manly’s surprising win. As Skye Ryan reports, the Green Party took the riding in a huge upset that gives Elizabeth May, for the first time ever, company in the House of Commons.
Vic Brice was gleeful pulling out Green Party campaign signs on Tuesday.
“Dream come true,” said the Nanaimo man and Green Party supporter.
“In a state of shock and just thrilled. It was awesome.”
On Monday night,Paul Manly and the Green Party’s come from behind upset left even his campaign manager in shock.
“I looked at it and I was like wow we’re getting such great response at the doorsteps but it was still difficult to believe that those polling numbers would actually bear out,” said Ilan Goldenblatt, Manly’s campaign manager.
Yet right out of the gates Monday night, Manly was out in the lead and stayed there. The surprised faces at Green Party headquarters turned into beaming smiles as he took the night, with a big margin, over his nearest competition, the Conservative Party. The favourite, the NDP, came in third.
” A lot of people told me after the last election that they wanted to support me,” Manly told CHEK News after his win.
“And they just didn’t in the last minute. So this time all those people have come my way.”
“This is a game changer for the country,” said John Kidder who recently married Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
“This is gonna cause momentum that’ll work down into southern Vancouver Island, over to the Mainland. This is going to elect Greens in Quebec. This is going to make an enormous difference.”
What exactly happened in Nanaimo-Ladysmith’s by-election is being dissected far and wide. Vancouver Island University Political Science Professor Alex Netherton says it is certainly an interesting turn.
“Let’s just first say “Wow,” said Netherton.
“The second Green MP in Canadian history so a little history was made,” he said.
“So I suppose they sent a message to the world that the greens are strong on Vancouver Island and they’re sending a message,” said Netherton.
“The party doubled its ranks with the win.
“And it certainly is nice to be able to use the plural,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
“When referring to Green members of Parliament,” she said.
The new MP-elect is already en route to Ottawa, catching a plane in Nanaimo Tuesday afternoon, eager as his supporters are to see what he can do in this short five-month term before a general election is called in the fall.
Skye Ryan
