Saanich South

Saanich South sits at the northern edge of Greater Victoria, combining older suburban neighbourhoods south of the Pat Bay Highway with more rural areas stretching north through Cordova Bay and Broadmead toward the agricultural lands of the Blenkinsop Valley. The riding had been held by NDP MLA Lana Popham since 2009, though her margins of victory were often tight in a riding that contained pockets of strong Liberal support in its wealthier northern precincts. The 2017 contest promised to be competitive, particularly given the entry of Olympic athlete David Calder as the BC Liberal candidate.

The riding's blend of urban, suburban, and agricultural landscapes meant that candidates had to address a wide range of issues from transit congestion to farmland preservation, making Saanich South one of the more policy-diverse races on southern Vancouver Island.

Candidates

Lana Popham (BC NDP) — Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised on Quadra Island, Popham graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in geography. In 1997, she and her family founded Barking Dog Vineyard, which became the first certified organic vineyard on Vancouver Island in 2000. Her experience with food security and farmer advocacy inspired her entry into politics, and she was first elected in the 2009 provincial election.

David Calder (BC Liberal Party) — Calder was a four-time Olympic rower who competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal for Canada in the coxless pairs at the 2008 Beijing Games. In an unusual twist, Calder had volunteered for Popham's successful 2013 campaign and briefly served on her constituency association's executive before joining the BC Liberal Party in November 2016.

Mark Neufeld (BC Green Party) — Neufeld was a veteran high school teacher at Claremont Secondary who had restarted the school's Institute for Global Studies program, taking an interdisciplinary approach combining social studies and sciences with a focus on climate change. He developed the program during a Master of Science degree supervised by Green Party leader Andrew Weaver at the University of Victoria.

Andrew Paul McLean ran for the Libertarian Party and Richard Percival Pattee represented the newly created Vancouver Island Party; both received modest support.

Local Issues

Transportation infrastructure was a dominant concern in Saanich South. The Pat Bay Highway, which bisects the riding, was a source of persistent safety and congestion complaints, particularly at the Sayward Road intersection where rear-end collisions were common due to drivers misjudging highway speeds when merging. The BC Liberal government had invested in the McKenzie interchange project, which was more than halfway complete by election time, but residents wanted further improvements including acceleration lanes and better transit connections along the corridor.

Agricultural land preservation was a uniquely important issue in Saanich South. The Blenkinsop Valley, one of the last significant farming areas within Greater Victoria, was the subject of ongoing tension between those who wanted to maintain strict Agricultural Land Reserve protections and landowners who struggled to make farming economically viable. Popham's background as an organic farmer gave her particular credibility on this file.

Health care and seniors' services rounded out the major local issues. The riding's aging population raised concerns about access to home care, long-term care beds, and wait times at nearby hospitals. The province-wide opioid crisis, which saw a sharp increase in overdose deaths in 2016 and early 2017, also touched suburban communities like those in Saanich South, prompting calls for expanded harm reduction and treatment services.