Two people new to politics are trying to unseat incumbent New Democrat Rob Fleming in Victoria-Swan Lake — a seat he won with more than 50 per cent of the votes in each of the past three elections.
Fleming is being challenged by Green Chris Maxwell and Liberal Stacey Piercey.
“I feel fresher in this job than ever,” said Fleming, at 45 a 12-year veteran of the legislature.
In an interview, Fleming said key isuses in the riding are housing affordability, transportation, addiction and mental illness, and ended with pointed jabs at what he calls the inaction and failings of Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberal government.
“The issues remain the same, but I think they’re more urgent than ever. We have a government that for four years sat by watching affordability get out of the reach of people who are middle income and working people. So we need a government that’s going to work on that.”
Fleming wants to see more co-operative housing for low-income families and a $15 minimum wage. He also wants more student residences at the University of Victoria and Camosun College, so that students won’t have to fight for the same rental spaces as working people and families.
The Liberal government, he said, has “enjoyed all the fruits of a real estate boom in terms of growing property transfer tax revenues and there isn’t a corresponding re-investment in affordable housing.”
In 2013, the Greens were second in Victoria-Swan Lake, with 23.2 per cent of the votes. The Liberals were third.
Victoria-Swan Lake has elected only one non-NDP MLA in the past 40 years — Liberal Sheila Orr in 2001, when the riding was known as Victoria-Hillside. A Social Credit member was elected in 1975 when the riding was part of the two-member Victoria electoral district.
An Ipsos/Global poll released Monday shows the Liberals at 43 per cent support across the province, the NDP at 41 per cent, and the Greens at 14 per cent.
Green candidate Maxwell, 43, is a medical researcher and co-lead of the childhood cancer and blood research group at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
At an all-candidates meeting at the Burnside-Gorge Community Centre on Sunday, Maxwell reminded the crowd several times that he was born and raised in Victoria, and would move his family to Victoria if he wins the seat.
Maxwell, father of two-and-a-half-year-old son Leo, said he decided to run because he was frustrated with decisions the government was making on Leo’s behalf. Maxwell said it’s been near impossible to get his son into licensed daycare. Other parents across the province have had the same complaint.
Maxwell said B.C. should consider a guaranteed basic income such as one being tried in Ontario.
“Evidence shows it has benefits. It reduces health-care costs, it allows students to graduate from high school, it helps single moms,” he said.
In an interview, Maxwell said he’s not blind to the challenge of unseating Fleming, who has been in politics since he was elected to Victoria city council when he was 28.
“Rob has got a community presence and he’s got much better resources than I do. I’m not a career politician,” Maxwell said. “I don’t have experience in politics, but I have experience in how to lead and how to implement things and get things done. What I bring to it is passion.”
Liberal candidate Piercey, the CEO of a Victoria-based tech company, is one of four transgender candidates in the election.
Piercey, 43, said the problem-solving skills involved in her job as a business management consultant primed her for politics.
“This job is about getting things done and that’s the type of person I am,” said Piercey, who has lived across Canada and moved to Saanich 12 years ago.
At a time when a candidate’s online presence is as important as door knocking, Piercey said that in social media, “I think I’m very competitive with Rob Fleming.”
The Liberals are pushing for more seats on Vancouver Island, which is usually a strong NDP region.
“We have a Vancouver Island platform this time, which really kind of made things special for this election,” Piercey said. “We never had that individual focus before so people responded to that quite well.”
At the all-candidates meeting, Fleming and Maxwell agreed on several issues, such as supporting a light rail-transit system in Greater Victoria as well as the creation of a Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.
Piercey said the Health Ministry has made progress in addressing the opioid crisis through overdose prevention centres and the distribution of 13,000 naloxone kits to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose.
Angie Todd-Dennis, 74, said while she is traditionally an NDP voter and supports a $15-an-hour minimum wage, she likes the Greens’ proposal for a basic living wage as it raises the self-esteem of people living in poverty.
Affordability was an issue for other voters who attended the all-candidates meeting.
Candyce McDonald, a 31-year-old who lives in the Oaklands neighbourhood, said she and her husband are working professionals who can’t afford to own a home. She wants to see better strategies to control rents and avoid last year’s 30 per cent price hike.
“If there was an interim solution of rental prices being adjusted so that we’re able to save more to maybe potentially get into the market, that would be helpful,” she said.
Steve Legg, a father of two who lives in Saanich, said the issues that matter to him are education, homelessness and transit.
Homeless camps have sprung up on Burnside Road. In January, the community saw the deaths of two homeless men — Dave Armitage, affectionately known as Mayor Dave, and Peter Verin, known as UVic’s unofficial philosopher.
“We know there are people who are finding places to have to shelter themselves. There’s not enough investment by the government at this time into low-cost housing, co-operative housing. And that ties into drug addiction and everything else,” Legg said.
