Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog has stepped down as MLA for Nanaimo.
Krog said he handed in his letter of resignation to the speaker of the B.C. legislative assembly’s office today. It was the end of 18 years in the B.C. legislature and a day with some emotion. There are a lot of things he looks back on with pride.
“I mean Neck Point Park, Parksville flats. The change to policy that allowed the children of workers who were killed on the job, whose surviving parent was on social assistance, actually get the money, as opposed to having it clawed back by the government … the coolest thing is having represented a wonderful city like Nanaimo,” said Krog.
He said it isn’t a day for regrets and a “day to be pleased to be mayor of Nanaimo.”
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.@BCLegSpeaker received notice that Leonard Krog is resigning as the MLA for Nanaimo today. Thank you for your 17 years of dedicated service in #BCLeg! #BCpoli pic.twitter.com/F1ejlR7zui
— BC Legislature (@BCLegislature) November 30, 2018
According to a statement from Elections B.C., pursuant to the Constitution Act, the speaker must inform the chief electoral officer of B.C. with a warrant and following that, a byelection must be held within six months. It is up to the government to decide the timing within that period.
“The premier made it pretty clear that there’d be a byelection called probably in late January,” said Krog. “I mean that’s more or less what he said on the day the announcement was made around [Sheila Malcolmson’s] candidacy for the nomination, so I don’t think anything’s going to change that.”
Krog announced he would be running for mayor in June and was elected in October’s municipal election.
Malcolmson will be seeking the NDP nomination for the provincial Nanaimo riding and Tony Harris has been selected as the candidate for the B.C. Liberals. Michele Ney and Duane Nickull are vying for the B.C. Green nomination. Robin Richardson of the Vancouver Island Party and independent Ray Farmere have also indicated they will run to try to become Nanaimo MLA.
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