Victoria-Swan Lake

Victoria-Swan Lake is an urban riding in the capital region that stretches from the Hillside-Quadra and Fernwood neighbourhoods through to parts of Saanich, including the area around Swan Lake. The riding has a strong tradition of electing NDP representatives and had been held by Rob Fleming since 2005, when the riding was known as Victoria-Hillside. The area's mix of government workers, university students from the University of Victoria and Camosun College, and environmentally engaged residents had produced only one non-NDP MLA in the previous four decades.

Candidates

Rob Fleming (BC NDP) — Fleming served on Victoria city council from 1999 to 2005, where he chaired the city's finance committee and represented Victoria at the Capital Regional District, the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, and the Capital Region Housing Corporation. First elected to the Legislature in 2005, he served as the NDP's education critic during the 40th Parliament, becoming a leading voice on class size and composition issues in BC schools.

Christopher Alan Maxwell (BC Green Party) — Dr. Chris Maxwell was an associate professor and co-lead of the childhood cancer and blood research group at BC Children's Hospital. Maxwell was motivated to run by his belief in the importance of democratic engagement. The Green Party's vote share in the riding had been steadily growing, rising from 12 per cent in 2009 to 23 per cent in 2013.

Stacey Piercey (BC Liberal Party) — Piercey was a Newfoundland-raised business consultant and CEO of Stuff2Digital Inc., a digital media consulting company. She was one of several transgender candidates running in the 2017 provincial election, a historic first for a Canadian provincial election. She was nominated by the BC Liberals on April 4, one week before the writ was issued.

David Costigane ran for The Vancouver Island Party.

Local Issues

Housing affordability had become a crisis in Victoria-Swan Lake by 2017. Home prices in parts of the riding had risen sharply between 2013 and 2017, putting enormous pressure on both buyers and renters. The riding had a high proportion of renters on its western side, and residents reported a severe shortage of affordable rental options. Co-operative and non-profit housing construction had stalled for years, and candidates across party lines identified housing as the top local concern.

Education was a particularly important issue in the riding given Fleming's role as the NDP's education critic. The long-running legal battle between the BC Teachers' Federation and the provincial government over class size and composition had reached the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled against the government in November 2016. The ruling required the province to restore contract provisions that limited class sizes and guaranteed specialist teacher ratios, and the implications for school funding and staffing were a major topic during the campaign.

Homelessness, addiction, and mental health services were growing concerns in the capital region. The intersection of the opioid crisis and inadequate supportive housing was driving more people onto the streets, and residents called for the province to invest in a continuum of care that included prevention, treatment, and permanent supportive housing rather than relying on emergency shelters and temporary measures.