Tuesday, October 28, 2014

24 candidates for Victoria Council does not need to be daunting

Updated last 5:37pm Oct 29th 

The norm for the City of Victoria to have the most candidates for council of any municipality in the CRD.   The average  for Victoria is 28 candidates but this year we "only" have 24.   Even 24 may sound like a huge number to consider but the candidates are not all of the same quality or seriousness when it comes to the election.   Here is my attempt to take 24 candidates for council and reduce to a manageable nine to learn about.

First, six of the candidates are incumbents and they are going to be re-elected.  It would be a truly stunning result if any of them lost.   Vote for them if you want.   Their almost certain re-election means that the Victoria City council election is really for the two vacant seats.

We now are at 18 candidates competing for two seats

Next there are the three candidates who are putting in at best minimal effort into the election.
Saul Andersen, Sean Murray, and Douglas Stewart.  If anyone of them does not like that characterization of them or their campaign, offer me some proof you are serious.

Then there are six  candidates that seem to little more than one person teams:
Jonathon Carroll, James Harasymow, Ryan Moen, Jeremy Olafson, Paul Servos, and Gordon MacKinnon.

We are now down to nine candidates vying for the two vacant council seats.   This is the list you should be doing your homework on and decide if you want to support them or not.  Two of these people will be councilors after the election.

Here are the nine with some quick comments I can add:
  • Steve Filipovic - He has run for mayor twice and once for council.  He is very active in the Greens locally.  He an amazing carpenter and a good guy to have a beer with.  He has also organized Earth Day here in Victoria for 2 decades now.   
  • Hilary Groos - Her father was the Liberal MP for Victoria from 1963 to 1972.  She is fourth generation Victorian but I know little about her life  October 29th - I had coffee with her, she is the sort of no nonsense, intelligent and innovative person Victoria council could use.  She is what I would call an "aber Balte" which would only make sense if you are part of my ethnic group
  • Ian Hoar - A man in his early middle age that grew up in the City of Victoria.   I know a number of my friends that really like him.  
  • Erik Kaye - He ran for council in 2005 and lost.  He is closely connected to the NDP.  He has worked a lot on transit issues.  Ted met him in person and liked him.
  • Jeremy Loveday - He started the youth poet laureate for the City of Victoria.  Politically he is connected with the NDP.  How hard a candidate campaigns is a reasonable indication of how much effort they will put into council - Jeremy has been campaigning hard.
  • Margaret Lucas - She is a local businesswoman involved with tourism and retail.  I have not spoken with anyone that knows her personally.  Ok, so this changed today as I had four people spontaneously say they support her and her fans come from across the political spectrum.
  • John Luton - He was a councilor from 2008-11.  He is a serious cycling activist.  He is also connected to the NDP.  As a councilor he was very supportive of the new Johnson Street Bridge
  • Andrew Reeve - He is the youngest serious candidate.  He was active with Amalgamation Yes and has ties to the federal Liberals.
  • Justin Stephenson - He grew up in Victoria and has moved back after a career that took him to senior levels in Canada in venture capital as a managing partner with RBC Capital Partners.  He works a lot with social enterprise in trying to make our world a better place.
With nine it is reasonable for you to speak with all of them in person.  Go for a coffee with them and find out who they are.

I can honestly say that I do not know enough about three two one of the candidates to know if they are worth voting for or not.   (things change as I find out more and more about the candidates)

From the nine above I would vote for Hilary Groos, Jeremy Loveday and Justin Stephenson.

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