The riding
The Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding includes Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Lantzville and parts of the Cowichan Valley.
Size: 1,753 square kilometres
Population: 122,710
Registered voters: 106,999
Current MP: Paul Manly, Green Party
In the past: New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson was elected in 2015 with about a third of the votes, but the riding went Green in a May 2019 byelection and again in the October 2019 general election. Nanaimo-Ladysmith was a new riding for 2015. It contains areas that used to be part of Nanaimo-Cowichan and Nanaimo-Alberni, and puts the city of Nanaimo into a single riding. New Democrat Jean Crowder was MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan while Conservative James Lunney was MP in Nanaimo-Alberni.
2019 results
2021 candidates
Candidates are in alphabetical order by last name.
Lisa Marie Barron
New Democratic Party
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Age 41, born in St. John’s, N.L., and has lived in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding for 26 years. Elected in 2018 as a school board trustee, also works in addictions as a youth famil navigator.
Fully vaccinated against COVID-19. “In the face of a fourth wave and the Delta variant, it’s important for me, my family, and my community that all of us are vaccinated to protect each other. People are rightly worried right now. They’re worried about sending their kids back to school, about harming seniors or people living with a disability. We need to do all we can to make vaccines accessible and available and encourage everyone to get vaccinated twice.”
What are the top issues in your riding?
What I’m hearing on the doorstep will be no surprise to anyone living here. We need strong climate action now — and Jagmeet Singh has a plan that will cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030, consistent with expert consensus from around the world, and eliminate the subsidies to Big Oil that the Trudeau Liberals with Conservative support have increased. We will redirect that money to the clean energy sector, creating thousands of new good paying jobs in clean, renewable energy.
I am also hearing a lot about the housing crisis. Many of us are unable to find accessible and affordable housing. Jagmeet has brought forward a realistic housing plan that will build 500,000 homes people can afford. Rather than rely on market housing, we can bring prices down by taking on speculators with a Foreign Buyers tax and bring security and rental assistance for renters.
My third community priority is to end the damage done in our communities by the opioid crisis. There’s no question that solutions will only come with all three levels of government working together with community-based organizations and health providers — but federal leadership is desperately needed to stop the overdose deaths.
People here are looking for an MP who listens and then takes action to make life better. We need an MP that can get things done. I want to be MP to deliver for this riding, under the strong, stable leadership of Jagmeet Singh. This time we need someone who can fight for us.
Why did you decide to run in this election?
I’m running because I want this community and this planet to be better for my children and for everyone’s children. I’m ready to stand up for the most vulnerable in this community and for bold climate action now. I’m running because Nanaimo-Ladysmith is my home. It is where I have raised my two teenage children and where I’ve worked, fought, and advocated for over 26 years.
Our community deserves stronger representation in Ottawa to push for change. Jagmeet and the NDP are fighting for people and the environment everyday, I’m ready to join them to continue to fight for you.
What is your political experience?
I am a long-time member and supporter of the NDP and have been involved as much as possible in previous campaigns. I made the decision to run in the 2018 as a School Board Trustee here in Nanaimo-Ladysmith as school board trustee because I felt that I had something to contribute to our community and add perspective that was missing from the discussion. I was, and continue to be, driven with a passion to advocate and fight for our community’s most vulnerable students. As a trustee my work is focused on our children and their families.
How have you made a difference in your community?
I have served my community as a School Board Trustee since 2018, fighting for the safety of students, teachers, school staff, and families. I also work as a Youth and Family Navigator, advocating for youth struggling with addictions who have been left behind by Liberal inaction to address the opioid crisis. In my work as a community development local business owner, I worked alongside municipal governments and non-profits to better deliver resources to individuals experiencing poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. And learning from my previous membership with CUPE Local 606, I am a strong advocate for workers’ rights.
What community groups and/or issues have you been involved with?
I’ve been involved in many organizations and groups in my 26 years here in Nanaimo-Ladysmith. I’m a School Board Trustee and a former member of CUPE 606, and a strong advocate for workers’ rights. I am currently the Chair of Nanaimo Ladysmith School Board’s Education Committee and the Provincial Council Representative for the British Columbia School Trustee Association (BCSTA). I am a member of the Nanaimo Health Network Governance Group and a regular participant of Youth Advocates Meetings. I previously co-facilitated Nanaimo’s Sex Trade Coalition which focused on safety and access to resources and actively volunteered for the United Way.
Michelle Corfield
Liberal Party of Canada
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Age 52, born in Port Alberni and raised in Cedar. As a Nuu-chah-nulth woman, cites a strong ancestral and cultural connection to Vancouver Island for over a millennium. Management Consultant with a doctorate in management.
Fully vaccinated against COVID-19. “Indigenous peoples are a high-risk population and it is necessary to continue my work in communities and protect my relatives. I also have an immuno-compromised son who has been a shut-in for the past 18 months and cannot be vaccinated due to his serious health concerns. I need to ensure that he protected and safe.”
What are the top issues in your riding?
Infrastructure Investment — we have serious traffic problems and causing far too many vehicles to idle in traffic, we need federal investment in the province for our health care. Far too many residents have to travel to Victoria because we don’t have a hospital that can service our population’s needs. These types of investments create an economy — good-paying jobs and builds our local economy with money spent on our local businesses services.
Support for our people — whether it’s mental health, support for small businesses, support for housing, or support for green economies — we need a government that can consider all of these issues and deliver in a post-pandemic world.
Why did you decide to run in this election?
Nanaimo-Ladysmith voters have not had an effective Member of Parliament and the dismal results have shown the past six years — homelessness, the growing opioid crisis, lack of health care services, mental health, housing crisis, and infrastructure investments to name a few. It’s time that the voters realize that party ideology voting doesn’t get an MP in Ottawa that can create real and lasting change for our communities. Having an MP sitting in the back corner of the house, not having the ability to speak up when real political debates happen, and if the MP happens to have the opportunity — the House of Commons session is generally empty of decision-making MP’s. We need better than a letter-writing MP for our riding.
What is your political experience?
• Vice-President of Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council
• Special adviser to many cabinet ministers, Premiers, Regional Chiefs, and National Chiefs
How have you made a difference in your community?
Ensuring that the Nanaimo boat harbour was not privatized. Leading the change with community members has kept our harbour how we envisioned it. A personal accomplishment was building the Stevie Smith Bike Park — it took effective lobbying and political interventions in our community to raise the funds and in-kind contributions to make it happen. Our community members now have a state-of-the-art park that our children and grandchildren can enjoy for decades.
What community groups and/or issues have you been involved with?
• Nanaimo Port Authority (past) chairperson and board member
• Colliery Dam Issue
• Save Nanaimo Boar Harbour
• Stevie Smith Bike Park
• numerous indigenous organizations throughout the Island as a board member • NEDC, USMA, NETP for example.
Tamara Kronis
Conservative Party of Canada
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Age 47, born in Toronto. Lives in Nanaimo. Lawyer and human rights advocate, goldsmith and business owner.
Fully vaccinated against COVID-19. “Yes I am fully vaccinated. It was the best decision for me and my family.”
What are the top issues in your riding?
This election has a clear message of time for change. We need Canada’s Recovery Plan to recover and secure our future. We have an extensive plan to help with many, many issues.
Locally I hear about affordability. The cost of everything is going up • grocery bills are up five per cent and gas prices have skyrocketed. With inflation at the highest level in 20 years and rising, families are struggling to make ends meet.
People are worried about jobs. Over the course of the pandemic, millions of Canadians lost their jobs, with women accounting for more than half of year-over-year employment losses. The tourism and hospitality sectors were among the hardest hit, as well as part-time and temporary workers.
Mental health is at the forefront. The pandemic has deepened Canada’s mental health crisis. We recognize that mental health is health and making historic investments to help those in need.
Health care must be available. We will massively boost health transfers to the provinces by nearly $60 billion more for health care over the next 10 years.
We need to tackle climate change. Canada’s Conservatives have a serious plan to combat climate change that allows us to meet our targets and reduce emissions by 2030, all while repealing Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax and letting people choose how to make a difference.
Locally, we need a foot ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver and we need overpasses for the Nanaimo Parkway.
Why did you decide to run in this election?
Now more than ever, we need to worry about where we are at and where we are going. Covid has been hard on so many people.
We need to turn our attention to recovery and the Conservatives have that plan. Canada’s Recovery Plan will get us to better days, while
Justin Trudeau will only be more of the same, with the NDP and the Green Party supporting him.
I want to fight for the people of Nanaimo-Ladysmith on what we need for this riding and I will be as open and accessible as possible.
What is your political experience?
Democracy is vital to our society. I have been involved in politics and campaigning since I was a kid, so I have been active for most of my life.
How have you made a difference in your community?
I have always understood that it is important to give back to your community. For years I have been fighting for what matters most in society, especially human rights and the great importance of democracy. Running in this election, I want to fight for the people of Nanaimo-Ladysmith on the issues we need to tackle together. We need to get our economy back in order; we need to get the cost of living under control; we need to recover jobs, including the small business and the tourism industry; we need to take care of our mental health and our overall health; we need to tackle climate change. And we need local investments like a foot ferry and overpasses for the Nanaimo Parkway. These and many more issues drive me to work hard for you and to always be accessible.
What community groups and/or issues have you been involved with?
I have been involved in national human rights advocacy for many, many years. Human rights are always at the forefront.
Locally, I am a member of the Nanaimo Fish and Game Protective Association. The riding needs the Conservative’s Canada’s Recovery Plan to deal with our riding issues like affordability, jobs, mental health, safe streets, climate change and healthcare and I will continue to fight for those issues and many more. Very specifically, I have been pressing for is a foot ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver and will also advocate for overpasses for the Nanaimo Parkway.
Paul Manly (incumbent)
Green Party of Canada
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Age 57, born in Port Alice, grew up in Port Alberni and has lived in Nanaimo for almost 20 years. Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Ladysmith since 2019. Was a media producer and small business owner before that, producing documentary films and educational television programs.
Fully vaccinated against COVID-19. “I took this step to help stop the spread of the virus and its variants. I encourage everyone who can be vaccinated to get vaccinated.”
What are the top issues in your riding?
We’ve just been through a summer in B.C. where hundreds of people died from extreme heat, and wildfires displaced thousands. People are seeing first-hand that our families, homes and communities are under threat from climate change. I am hearing this concern from many constituents. This is why I am committed to fighting for an end to all fossil fuel subsidies, cancelling all new pipeline projects and accelerating Canada’s shift to renewable energy. I will also continue to call for a national ban on gas fracking — something no other political party will commit to.
I’m also hearing serious concerns about housing affordability and homelessness. These issues are affecting many people here, both directly and indirectly. Inflated home prices are driving longtime residents out of our communities and away from their families. Skyrocketing rents have pushed hundreds of people into homelessness and thousands more to the brink. This is why I put forward Motion M-66 in parliament, calling for stronger regulation on the housing market and an end to the predatory investment practices that are inflating home and rent prices.
The pandemic has laid bare many public health issues, especially in long-term care. I was blowing the whistle on poor conditions in local long-term care homes even before the pandemic, calling for national standards to guarantee residents receive the care they deserve. The opioid crisis has also worsened with the pandemic, impacting community members from all walks of life. It’s time to stop criminalizing addictions and shift to a public health approach without stigma.
Why did you decide to run in this election?
Climate change is the reason I went into politics, and it’s the reason I’m seeking re-election. We need voices outside the mainstream parties pushing for bold, courageous action because those parties have failed us. Investing billions of dollars in new fossil fuel projects is unacceptable in a climate emergency. I am one of the top three MPs speaking about climate change in parliament, and I am committed to continue holding the other parties accountable. David Suzuki, 350 Canada, and Leadnow have endorsed me as a climate champion. I think long-term and will act with the courage that this moment demands.
What is your political experience?
In May 2019, I achieved a historic win in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith by-election, and became the second elected Green MP in the Canadian House of Commons
In the 2019 general election, I was elected MP for the second time
I was the Green Party Shadow Cabinet critic for International Trade from 2015 to 2020
How have you made a difference in your community?
Serving the constituents of Nanaimo-Ladysmith has always been my first priority. When the pandemic hit, I immediately began contacting government ministers about gaps in support programs that were identified by our community. My work contributed to better and more accessible COVID supports. In parliament, I lead with good ideas on many issues important to Nanaimo-Ladysmith. My work on long-term care, housing affordability, banning thermal coal exports, and old-growth forest conservation has influenced other parties’ election platforms. I worked across party lines and successfully got a motion passed unanimously, as well as amendments to bills that have directly improved Canada’s laws.
What community groups and/or issues have you been involved with?
As MP, I have been very active advocating for actions on many community issues, including:
- Advocating for real solutions to the housing affordability and homlessness crisis
- Working with local First Nations to advance reconciliation
- Ending the logging of old-growth forests, and creating value-added forestry jobs based on the harvesting and processing of second• and third-growth forests
- Unfreezing the pensions of residents with UK pensions
- Eliminating freighter anchorages in the southern Gulf Islands
- Safe operation and reducing the impact of the Department of National Defence (DND) rifle range
- I am actively involved in the Rotary Club of Nanaimo
- I served 11 years as director of Mid Island CoopConsumer Services Cooperative
- I was a director on the board of the development company for Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community, a multi-million dollar housing project
As a filmmaker I produced videos for a wide variety of community organizations in Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
Stephen Welton
People's Party of Canada
Age 60. Born in Hamilton, Ont. Has lived in Nanaimo for four years. Semi-retired. Worked as a project manager, specializing in the areas of environment, health and safety.
Did not reveal COVID-19 vaccination status. “My health status is between me and my doctor. It is private and none of your business.”
What are the top issues in your riding?
In this federal election, most people in Nanaimo-Ladysmith are more concerned about national issues than about local issues. They want to know when they can go back to their normal lives. They want to know if the government will take away their bodily autonomy, if the government will restrict their ability to work, and if the government will restrict their free movement in society.
The PPC hears that from Nanaimo-Ladysmith and from all across Canada and we are assuring the people of this riding and everywhere else in this country that getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated will be their individual choice and their choice for their children. That there will be no vaccine passports. And once again, Canadian rights and freedoms will be respected and protected.
Why did you decide to run in this election?
I have been greatly troubled by the direction the Liberals have taken this country and I fear for the destruction of our economy and way of life. I cannot stand idly by as Trudeau strips away our rights and freedoms, censors those who would disagree with him, and undermines the future of this country with crippling debt. I feel compelled to stand up and fight for the Canada I know and love. For the Canada our children deserve.
What is your political experience?
No direct political experience. However, in my career, I had dealings with officials at the Canadian Standards Association, Transport Canada and the Ministry of Environment.
How have you made a difference in your community?
I am a responsible citizen, doing my part to get along with my neighbours and fellow citizens. I pay my taxes and ask little in return. Through leading hikes, I have introduced people to the beauty of our many trails and helped them feel safer in the wilds. And through my contracting business, I help local homeowners maintain and beautify their homes.
What community groups and/or issues have you been involved with?
I was a leader with the Boy Scouts of Canada. I have worked on neighbourhood cleanup crews and community tree planting initiatives. I am a Hike Leader with a local hiking club. I am a Moderator of a Vancouver Island hiking page on FB.
