Trudeau calls May 6 byelection for B.C. riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a May byelection in British Columbia to fill a seat vacated by a former New Democrat.

The Prime Minister's Office has set May 6 as the date for the ballot for Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

The riding opened up when former New Democrat member of Parliament Sheila Malcolmson resigned in January to run successfully for the provincial New Democrats.

Malcolmson was one of several NDP MPs who decided not to run again in October's federal election.

The list includes B.C. MP Murray Rankin, Alberta MP Linda Duncan, Ontario MPs Irene Mathyssen and David Christopherson, Quebec's Helene Laverdiere, Romeo Saganash, Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet and Anne Minh-Thu Quach and B.C.'s Fin Donnelly.

Bob Chamberlin, a long-serving chief counsellor of a First Nation based on Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago off northeastern Vancouver Island, has said he intends to seek the NDP candidacy in Nanaimo-Ladysmith.