The leader of the BC Liberals is taking special note of the electoral reform vote result in Nanaimo a riding up for grabs in a pending by-election.

Andrew Wilkinson noting the riding and nearby Nanaimo-North Cowichan went First Past the Post.

“The Greens hold three ridings in the province and one of them is Cowichan and Prop Rep was defeated there. So if you take this as any kind of referendum on the performance of the Greens or a measure of their success they are in trouble.”

Wilkinson says the NDP have taken the riding for granted for years.

“We are pretty optimistic. It is looking good. Every time I go to Nanaimo I get a stronger and stronger impression that we could get have a great result there.”

Wilkinson says if they can flip the riding it would put the Liberals in tie with the NDP and Greens.

What would happen then?

“That is a decision that is really in the hands of the public. Right now the vote in the House is 43-42 and we are on the short end of that with 42 seats. If the Nanaimo by-election goes our way it will make it 43-43 and then we are going to have to see where it goes from there. The ultimate decision is with the Lieutenant Governor.”

This morning the BC Conservative party announced it would also run a candidate in the Nanaimo by-election.

The by-election was called after long time Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog won the mayor’s job in the last civic election vacating his provincial seat.