Esquimalt voters face a classic election dilemma: Shake it up or stick with what’s familiar.
With two candidates campaigning for mayor and seven candidates vying for six council seats, only two contenders will find themselves on the outs come Saturday.
Incumbent councillors Ken Armour, Jacob Helliwell and Tim Morrison, and newcomers Andrea Boardman, Duncan Cavens, Chris Munkacsi and Darlene Rotchford are on the ballot.
Barb Desjardins is hoping for a fifth term as mayor but will have to beat out challenger Sonya Gracey.
“I believe democracy is not served through acclamation,” Gracey said. “I came forward to ensure there was a true election process, first of all. Second, I’m deeply invested in my community as a mom with two young kiddos. And [I’m] really wanting the municipality to be investing, not only in my well-being, but in long-term outcomes for my kids and the next generation.”
Both mayoral candidates share an enthusiastic sense of momentum for the township, which has seen several recently completed infrastructure projects, including the $10-million Gorge Park Pavilion and the Esquimalt Town Square development, which features residential and commercial buildings, along with a new civic plaza.
Desjardins said with the retirement of chief administrative officer Laurie Hurst, who left at the beginning of October after 18 years with the township, consistent leadership is vital to Esquimalt’s success.
“This next term is really going to be a wonderful time in Esquimalt with significant growth [and] economic development,” she said. “We’re moving on many of the strategies we worked on last term, like our active transportation strategy [and] our climate mitigation and climate action strategy.
“It’s a term of really putting the pedal to the metal and really activating the work that was done last term.”
Both mayoral candidates would like to see a change in policing in Esquimalt, which is currently served by the Victoria Police Department and has been a file of concern for Desjardins since her first term as mayor.
Desjardins, who is deputy co-chair of the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board, has long said that Esquimalt residents pay too much for policing — and though she’s supportive of a regional police force, she’s ready to explore an Esquimalt-only policing solution.
“We are very different communities,” she said of Victoria. “We’ve worked hard to find out what the Ministry [of Public Safety and Solicitor General] needs in order for us to make a change, and now we’re going out and getting that information so we can provide it to them and try to make a change in the way policing services are delivered in terms of the governance and … the cost.”
In March, Esquimalt rejected a bid for 10 new police officers for the department, with Desjardins citing a 2020 Ministry of Public Safety study that said declining calls for service and a low crime rate meant Esquimalt was paying for resources it wasn’t using.
Gracey wants the township to keep pushing for a regional force.
“Victoria, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, as our downtown core is responsible for festivals and protests and the late-night scene, the bar scene, all of the stuff that goes on downtown,” she said. “My thinking is that, instead of withdrawing from the conversation around a partnership with Victoria, that really we should be looking at working with Victoria and the province to leverage the rest of the municipalities to be pitching into that core cost of having downtown policing services.”
Gracey was elected as a Victoria city councillor in 2005 and 2008, but resigned in 2010 to pursue a master’s degree in sustainable health systems.
She said she backs the township’s transportation plan and land-use planning that supports affordable housing.
“Esquimalt is changing … [and] we’re at a pivotal moment in terms of how we respond to that change,” she said. “We should be thoughtful, intentional and courageous around how we want to be as a community.”
Desjardins said she still has a lot of work to do on council.
“I think this is the time to have experience because of the change in staff and the turnover on council,” she said. “I’m really excited to continue the work we’ve started.”
— With files from Andrew Duffy
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