Two more vie for Victoria seats

Independent candidates opt to campaign together

Two more candidates have announced their intention to run for Victoria council.

James Bay Neighbourhood Association president Marg Gardiner and real estate agent Gary Alberts, a James Bay resident, say they are independent candidates who have decided to campaign together.

Gardiner said there’s a lot of anger and angst in the community, and she thinks it’s in part because people don’t think they are being heard.

“Over the last few years, I’ve seen such a deflection of residents’ and even local businesses’ voices. Their perspective has been lost, and I think what has gained is we’ve had a lot of special interest groups,” she said.

“Everyone loves living here. We have the nicest climate, the nicest places, but we have so many problems, and I think people don’t think that the things important to them are being addressed.”

She said the city’s network of protected bike lanes became a for or against issue because proper consultation wasn’t done. People shouldn’t have to become activists to feel they are being heard, she said.

Alberts said he decided to run because he just felt it was time to try to do something about problems he was seeing. “I thought I could continue to sit in the coffee shop and complain or I’m going to do something about it or at least attempt to do something about it.”

One of the issues Alberts would like to see addressed is putting an end to panhandling in the downtown.

He said the city should have waited two or three years to address all the issues with the separated bike lanes on Pandora Avenue before immediately spending millions of dollars building the lanes on Fort Street and now moving ahead on the Wharf Street lanes.

“It just doesn’t seem well thought out. And then when we see the problems with the bicycle lanes on Pandora, the blind people for example getting off the bus, what did they do? They just continued … on Fort Street,” Alberts said.

Alberts, who has volunteered at Our Place, said there has to be a better way to deal with homelessness.

“I just know from talking to friends and family who are in Victoria and other parts of Greater Victoria, that everybody is complaining about this.”

Last week, a group called Together Victoria announced it is fielding a slate of three candidates.

Laurel Collins, Sarah Potts and Sharmarke Dubow are all endorsed by Together Victoria, a group of self-described progressive environmentalists.

There are no candidate announcements yet from NewCouncil.ca, a group formed to replace incumbent councillors. NewCouncil.ca’s stated priorities include: a greater focus on community safety, fiscal responsibility and affordable housing that addresses neighbourhood needs.

So far, four candidates have announced for Victoria mayor: incumbent Lisa Helps; businessman Gary Beyer; Rob Duncan, a child poverty activist who ran in 2014 as Changes the Clown; and HST rebate specialist Sean Leitenberg.