Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strolled Nanaimo’s waterfront with Liberal candidate Michelle Corfield on Monday, shaking hands with residents one day after calling a May 6 byelection there.

The Nanaimo-Ladysmith seat became vacant after New Democrat MP Sheila Malcolmson stepped down to successfully run for a seat in the provincial legislature in January.

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Corfield has served as chair of the Nanaimo Port Authority, chair of the Legislative Council of the Ucluelet First Nation and as a founding member of the Ucluelet First Nation Settlement Trust.

The Conservatives have selected 32-year-old financial manager John Hirst. Jennifer Clarke, who lost the nomination to Hirst, will represent the new People’s Party of Canada, led by Quebec MP Maxime Bernier.

They’ll be running against Green candidate Paul Manly, a researcher, filmmaker and communications specialist who placed fourth in the 2015 election. The son of former NDP MP Jim Manly, he campaigned on Gabriola Island and downtown Nanaimo with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May on Sunday. “This byelection is your opportunity to vote without fear or compromise — because the outcome is not going to change the government. A vote for any other party is a vote for the status quo,” he said in a Twitter message.

The New Democrat candidate has yet to be chosen, but two are seeking the nomination. Bob Chamberlin, the long-serving chief councillor of a First Nation based in the Broughton Archipelago off northeastern Vancouver Island, will face Lauren Semple, a former constituency assistant to Malcolmson.

Semple is a women’s rights activist who has been director of the past three Nanaimo Pride festivals. She also helped organize the Nanaimo Women March On event.

In announcing his bid for the nomination, Chamberlin said he has spent much of his life in the Nanaimo area and understands issues important to the riding such as affordable housing and childcare, and a workable pharmacare system covering prescription drugs. He said in his roles leading the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation and as vice-president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, he has worked with Liberal and Conservative governments, served as chair of several agencies and boards, and advocated on a range of issues.

“We can get better results for Canadians from coast to coast to coast, but it’s not going to happen under a Trudeau government that continually overlooks the practical needs of Canadians just looking to get by and needing to make their lives more affordable,” Chamberlin said.

Michael Prince, the Lansdowne professor of social policy at the University of Victoria, said this byelection is the NDP’s to win or lose.

“The NDP are third in the national polls, but this byelection is not going to be a two-way race between the Liberals and Conservatives,” said Prince. “This is for the NDP to hold and I don’t think they’ll take anything for granted.”

Late last fall, Trudeau held his Liberal cabinet retreat in Nanaimo, Prince noted. “He’s been holding cabinet retreats in various parts of the country. I think the idea of holding one on Vancouver Island was to wave the Liberal flag and show a presence. He also held a town hall meeting. He has been to Nanaimo twice and this is a government which has no seats on the Island. He’s coming into an area that, historically, has either voted NDP or Conservative. There’s some thinking there’s potential on the Island,” said Prince.

Prince wonders if Vancouver Islanders will see Bernier in the riding. The People’s Party of Canada took 10.6 per cent of the vote in last month’s Burnaby-South byelection.

Malcolmson was one of several NDP MPs, including Victoria’s Murray Rankin, who decided not to run again in October’s federal election.

ldickson@timescolonist.com