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
Mayoral Candidates
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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
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