Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca

Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca was a federal riding on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, stretching from the military community of Esquimalt and the growing suburbs of Colwood, Langford, and View Royal westward through the rural District of Metchosin and the town of Sooke along the Juan de Fuca Strait. With a population of approximately 113,000, the riding combined the urban fringe of Greater Victoria with rugged coastal wilderness and old-growth forest. The district also included portions of Saanich, adding some established residential neighbourhoods to its diverse geographic mix.

Candidates

• Randall C. Garrison (NDP) — Born in 1950, Garrison was a criminology and political science instructor at Camosun College in Victoria. He first ran as the NDP candidate in Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca in 2004, finishing second to Liberal incumbent Keith Martin, and ran again in 2006 with a similarly narrow loss. Acclaimed as the NDP candidate in January 2011, Garrison won the riding in an extremely tight race with 40.9% of the vote, edging out the Conservative candidate by just 406 votes. His victory launched a parliamentary career focused on justice, national defence, and 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, including landmark work on banning conversion therapy and expanding human rights protections.

• Troy DeSouza (Conservative) — DeSouza was a lawyer and partner at Dominion GovLaw specializing in municipal law, with seven years of service in the Canadian Forces reserves. He had also run as the Conservative candidate in the riding in 2008 and came agonizingly close to victory in 2011, finishing with 40.2% of the vote—just 406 votes behind Garrison. Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the riding early in the campaign to support DeSouza’s candidacy.

• Lillian Szpak (Liberal) — Szpak was a three-term Langford city councillor who won the federal Liberal nomination for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca. With the retirement of longtime Liberal MP Keith Martin, the party’s support in the riding collapsed, and Szpak finished well behind the two leading candidates.

• Shaunna Salsman (Green Party) — Salsman ran as the Green Party candidate in the riding, drawing a modest share of the vote in an area with some environmental sensitivity around old-growth forests and coastal development.

• Louis James Lesosky (Independent) — Lesosky ran as an independent candidate, receiving a small number of votes.

• Christopher Robert Porter (CAP) — Porter was the leader of the Canadian Action Party and ran in the riding under that banner, receiving a negligible share of the vote.

About the Riding

Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca was one of Vancouver Island’s most politically competitive ridings, with a history of razor-thin margins and dramatic party switches. The riding’s eastern end was anchored by the Township of Esquimalt, home to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt—the Royal Canadian Navy’s Pacific headquarters—and the adjacent shipbuilding and defence-related industries that employed thousands of workers. The fast-growing suburbs of Langford and Colwood, located just west of Victoria, were attracting young families with more affordable housing, new retail developments, and expanding infrastructure, transforming what had recently been a semi-rural landscape into a booming suburban corridor.

West of the suburban growth belt, the riding became dramatically more rural. Metchosin retained its agricultural character with hobby farms and equestrian properties, while Sooke, located on the shores of the Sooke Basin and the Juan de Fuca Strait, served as a gateway to the wild west coast of Vancouver Island. The riding’s natural environment—including old-growth forests, salmon-bearing rivers, and the rugged coastline—made environmental protection a persistent local issue.

The 2011 election in Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca was shaped by the retirement of Keith Martin, a former Reform Party and Canadian Alliance MP who joined the Liberals in 2004 and held the seat through three elections. Martin’s departure left the riding wide open, and both the NDP and Conservatives mounted aggressive campaigns. The race became one of the closest in the country, with Garrison’s margin of just 406 votes making it a signature NDP pickup on a night when the party was surging nationally under Jack Layton. The Conservatives’ near-miss reflected the riding’s evenly split electorate—military families and suburban homeowners leaning Conservative, while public-sector workers, students, and progressive voters in the western communities and Esquimalt supported the NDP.

Local issues in the 2011 campaign included defence spending and shipbuilding contracts at the Esquimalt naval base, transit improvements for the rapidly growing Westshore communities, affordable housing, and environmental stewardship of the region’s forests and waterways. The riding’s political character would continue to evolve, and the 2012 redistribution would reconfigure it into the new riding of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke.