B.C. municipal election 2018: Victoria results

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps has been re-elected.

Elected to council are incumbents Ben Isitt, Jeremy Loveday, Geoff Young, Charlayne Thornton-Joe and Marianne Alto.

Background

The mayor of British Columbia’s capital city wants to keep her job. Lisa Helps is running for re-election in Victoria. It was four years ago that she pulled off the upset, defeating incumbent Dean Fortin by 89 votes.

Since then Helps has focused on building new affordable housing, separated bike lanes downtown and the start of construction on a regional sewage treatment facility. She inherited the Johnson Street Bridge project, which was late and over-budget.

The bike lane network has been controversial, leading to parking issues and traffic problems. Helps was also in charge while a tent city occupied the grounds of the provincial court house in the city for nearly a year.

Helps will be heavily favoured to win re-election, with the only candidates publicly interested so far having no substantial political experience.

The big issues in Victoria include affordability, affordable housing development, sewage treatment and the future of the Crystal Pool.

Helps received national attention when she announced the removal of the Sir John A. Macdonald statue from in front of Victoria city hall.

Incumbents are in bold.

WATCH: All you need to know about the 2018 Victoria election

2:14 All you need to know about the 2018 Victoria election

Mayoral Candidates

Saul Andersen

Rob Duncan

Michael Geoghegan

Stephen Hammond (NewCouncil.ca)

Lisa Helps – elected

David A Johnston

Bruce McGuigan

Rymo (Ryan Moen)

Alexander Schmid

Krzysztof Zmuda

Council Candidates

Gary Alberts (NewCouncil.ca)

Marianne Alto

Stephen Andrew (NewCouncil.ca)

Darlene Archibald

Laurel Collins (Together Victoria)

Sharmarke Dubow (Together Victoria)

Steve Filipovic

Marg Gardiner

Riga Godron

James Harasymow

Rose Henry

Ben Isitt 

Jesse Jimenez

Randie Johal (NewCouncil.ca)

Edison Kahakauwila

Anna King

Sean Leitenberg

Grace Lore

Jeremy Loveday

Pam Madoff

Delmar Martay

Sarah Potts (Together Victoria)

Andrew Reeve (NewCouncil.ca)

Jordan Reichert

Ted Smith

Doug Stewart

William Tate

Charlayne Thornton-Joe

Geoff Young

Boundary

The province’s capital is bordered by Oak Bay, Saanich, Esquimalt and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Population (2016)

85,792

History

Aboriginal families have lived on Southern Vancouver Island for generations, well before Capt. James Cook became the first non-aboriginal person to set foot on Vancouver Island in 1778. On July 21, 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of the Dominion of Canada and Victoria was proclaimed the capital.

Named after Queen Victoria, the city is one of the oldest in the Pacific Northwest, with British settlement beginning in 1843.

Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median

$103,303/$111,736

Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016

118.62 (-14.75)/93.63 (-0.71)

Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016

115.94 (-21.99)/74.86 (-21.99)

Political representation

Federal

Murray Rankin (NDP) – Victoria

Provincial

Rob Fleming (BC NDP) – Victoria-Swan Lake

Carole James (BC NDP) – Victoria-Beacon Hill

Andrew Weaver (Green Party) – Oak Bay-Gordon Head