Metro Victoria Community Economy Group: One-third of Victoria candidates support significant economic change

November 16, 2011
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Metro Victoria Community Economy Group: One-third of Victoria
candidates support significant economic change
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Seven candidates in the Victoria municipal election (including one mayoral candidate, five council candidates, and one school trustee candidate) have signed an endorsement of the Metro Victoria Community Economy Group's Consensus Statement on Victoria's Economic Strategy. In addition, four from Saanich have signed, three from Central Saanich, and one from each of Langford and North Saanich.

Eight local experts wrote the Consensus Statement, calling for a greater focus on community engagement and more support for small, locally owned enterprises.

"The most important sentence in the City's strategy is: 'Victoria needs to think about ways to foster local economic opportunity using local capacity,'" says Lisa Helps, council candidate and executive director of Victoria Community Micro Lending. "The authors of the Consensus Statement took this as our beginning point. Our push is to re-ignite the local."

"Victoria could stand out as a unique, authentic, locally powered hotbed of social and innovation entrepreneurship and green jobs," says Donna Morton of the Centre for Integral Economics. "Anything less would be a disservice to present residents and future generations."

"I'm heartened to see other candidates in other municipalities showing support for this initiative, which I think needs to be regional," says Rob Wickson, a candidate in Saanich and also one of the authors of the Consensus Statement. "If we continue 'business as usual,' we will find ourselves unable to focus on the serious regional issues that face us."

All Victoria and Saanich candidates were emailed a copy of the Consensus Statement and asked to sign on. The list of candidates who have signed the statement is below. The full Consensus Statement and its authors, and the list of endorsing candidates, businesses and citizens who have signed it, can be found at www.communityeconomy.ca

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Endorsing Candidates:

Steve Filipovic (Victoria)
Shellie Gudgeon (Victoria)
Lisa Helps (Victoria) (original signatory)
Ben Isitt (Victoria)
Philippe Lucas (Victoria)
Linda McGrew (Victoria)
Diane McNally (Victoria)

Judy Brownoff (Saanich)
Dean Murdock (Saanich)
Rob Wickson (Saanich) (original signatory)
Harald Wolf (Saanich)

Alastair Bryson (Central Saanich)
Christopher Graham (Central Saanich)
Wayne Spencer (Central Saanich)
Chris Johnson (Langford)
Elsie McMurphy (North Saanich)