Pierre Poilievre draws thousands to rally north of Nanaimo

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre set his sights on B.C.'s Vancouver Island in the final days of the election campaign, speaking to thousands of people who packed into a farm outbuilding near Nanaimo Friday night.

"Vancouver Island, I have a question, Who's voting for change?" Poilievre asked the crowd, to cheers and a chant of "We want change." 

The lineup to get into the rally snaked around the large farm building, and cars were backed up all the way to Island Highway's Nanoose Bay on-ramp, just north of Nanaimo. 

Brett Clancy, who lives in the Cowichan-Malahat riding, says the rally embodied the "blue wave" washing over the Island, where the Conservatives are trying to turn NDP seats blue. 

"This is the biggest rally on Vancouver Island in the history of political rallies"

This is Poilievre's second visit to Nanaimo and fourth trip to B.C. since the campaign began. 

"We haven't seen that kind of attention by a Conservative leader on the Island in decades," says Michael Prince, the University of Victoria's dean of human and social development and a veteran political scientist. 

"[Poilievre is] looking at taking two, three, maybe four seats from the NDP on the Island," Prince said

The NDP currently holds six of the seven ridings on Vancouver Island, while the Greens hold one.

Current polls show every riding on the Island is a battleground, with the potential for nearly every seat to change hands.

Clancy says the NDP have "abandoned the working class," which is why the Conservatives are staking out this territory. 

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog says the Conservatives have been paying close attention to his city, as well as the Alberni Valley and North Island. 

"They believe they have a good chance here. I think the polling generally confirms it."  

Poilievre's presence in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding could give a boost to the party's candidate, Tamara ­Kronis, in what is shaping up to be a tight four-way race.