Bookstore owner Cliff McNeil-Smith has upset incumbent Steve Price to become the next mayor of Sidney.
McNeil-Smith, owner and general manager of Tanner鈥檚 Books, defeated Price 3,740 votes to 929.
鈥淚鈥檓 enormously excited,鈥� McNeil-Smith said. 鈥淭here were 11 councillor candidates for the six positions, a lot of new faces and there was just outstanding engagement.
鈥淭he number of doors we knocked on, the public forums we had, all-candidates meetings 鈥� it just really engaged the community.鈥�
Asked to explain his margin of victory, McNeil-Smith pointed to the previous council鈥檚 handling of major developments.
鈥淲e had some very large projects come forward over the last couple or three years, and the community was just not satisfied with the engagement from the current council,鈥� he said.
鈥淧eople want to move forward 鈥� this community has always been moving forward 鈥� but they just felt that 鈥� they weren鈥檛 being listened to.鈥�
Elsewhere on the Saanich Peninsula, Geoff Orr, a one-term councillor and former owner of a software company, will be the next mayor of North Saanich. Orr, 57, defeated former councillor Dorothy Hartshorne 2,592 votes to 1,415.
鈥淚 really feel privileged and honoured that the electorate voted the way that they did in terms of the numbers,鈥� he said.
It鈥檚 the second time Hartshorne has come up short in a bid for the mayor鈥檚 job. In 2014, she lost by 158 votes to Alice Finall, who is stepping down this year after three consecutive terms in office.
Orr, a mechanical engineer, said one of council鈥檚 first priorities will be hiring a new chief administrative officer.
A self-described centrist politician, Orr already has considerable support among councillors, all of whom were acclaimed.
During the campaign, he earned endorsements from three of the four returning incumbents.
In Central Saanich, Mayor Ryan Windsor was acclaimed to a second term. First elected to council in a 2013 byelection, he won the mayor鈥檚 job the following year and faced no opposition this time around.
