Greens' Elizabeth May easily wins seat, but party's incumbent in Nanaimo-Ladysmith still in close 3-way race

The Greens continue to have two seats in the House of Commons but a thirdis still up in the air as votes continue to be counted in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, the riding whereGreen Party incumbent Paul Manly is seeking re-election.

The Greens'Mike Morrice in Kitchener Centre picked up a new seat becoming the first elected Green Party member in Ontario while Elizabeth May handily retained her seat in her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, a seatshe has held since 2011.

Green Party LeaderAnnamie Paul failed to win a seat in her riding of Toronto Centre, coming in fourth place.

But eyes are now on Nanaimo-Ladysmith, a riding in the midst of an exceptionally close race with the NDP candidate Lisa MarieBarron, a school board trustee, and the Conservative candidate TamaraKronis, a lawyer and retail business owner,within a few hundred votes of each other. The Green's Manly is in third place, within 2,000 votes of the leaders.

There are almost 8,000 special ballots still to be counted votes Manly is counting on to retain his seat.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith has historically been an NDP stronghold. Prior to Manly, the seat was held the NDP'sSheila Malcolmsonwho resigned in order to run provincially in former MLA Leonard Krog's riding after Krog was elected mayor of Nanaimo. Manly won that 2019 by-election,leading the Conservative candidateby 12.4 per cent.

University of Victoria public administration teaching professorKimberly Speers said that both the NDP and Conservatives had invested heavily in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding in the lead-up to the election hoping to take the seat fromthe Green Party.

If the Conservatives do end up winning the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding, it will be the only Conservative seat on Vancouver Island.

If the NDP win, it will mean six of the seven seats on Vancouver Island will be NDP, with the sole outlier being May'sGreen seat.

May, who had served as the leader of the federal Green Party from2006 to 2019, quickly dismissedthe idea of taking upthe mantle of leader again.

"I'm the former leader, that's what I'm staying."

WATCH | May discusses the Green campaign and Paul:

Former Green party leader Elizabeth May reacts to Green Party Leader Annamie Pauls performance in 2021 election

3 years ago

Duration 2:05

Elizabeth May says Annamie Paul has deep connections to her riding, but Green Party leader loses it to Liberal