Saanich North and the Islands

Saanich North and the Islands stretches from the agricultural heartland of the Saanich Peninsula — Central Saanich, North Saanich, and the seaside town of Sidney — across the waters of the Salish Sea to the Southern Gulf Islands of Salt Spring, Galiano, Mayne, Pender, and Saturna. Ferry-dependent island communities, peninsula farmland, and small-town retail districts give the riding a character distinct from the urban core of Greater Victoria to the south. The area's large retiree population, agrarian traditions, and environmental sensibility have made it a competitive three-way riding in recent cycles.

The seat had been held since 2017 by Green MLA Adam Olsen, a member of the Tsartlip First Nation and the first Indigenous Green Party member elected to a legislature in North America. Olsen announced he would not seek re-election, opening the riding for the first time since the Greens captured it. The 2024 contest became a genuinely three-way race, with the Greens defending the seat, the NDP seeking to reclaim it, and the surging Conservatives mounting a serious challenge.

Candidates

Rob Botterell (BC Green Party) — Botterell was a retired lawyer and strategic consultant who had lived on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands for two decades. He held a law degree from the University of Victoria and an MBA from the University of British Columbia, and had spent more than twenty-five years in private practice representing First Nations and local governments. His work included negotiating key provisions of the Maa-nulth Treaty for Huu-ay-aht First Nations, who honoured him with the traditional name Naacaluk.

Sarah Riddell (BC NDP) — Riddell was a Central Saanich municipal councillor, elected in 2022, with master's degrees in public and health administration. She had spent sixteen years in the provincial public service, including roles at the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Auditor General's Office, and most recently as Director of the Medical Services Plan Payment Schedule at the Ministry of Health.

David Busch (Conservative Party) — Busch was a lawyer who had operated his own law firm in Saanich for more than a decade, representing clients from Small Claims to the Court of Appeal. He had previously worked as a critical care and pediatric cardiology registered nurse and taught nursing at Laurentian University and the University of Alberta. He ran as the federal Conservative candidate in Saanich—Gulf Islands in 2019 and 2021.

Amy Haysom (Independent) also contested the riding.

Local Issues

BC Ferries service to the Southern Gulf Islands remained the riding's signature issue. The NDP government had frozen fares on major routes and cut fares on minor routes by fifteen per cent in 2018, and subsequently reinstated free Monday-to-Thursday travel for seniors. However, islanders continued to report that service reliability had deteriorated, with cancelled sailings, aging vessels, and capacity constraints making daily travel unpredictable. Residents of Salt Spring, Galiano, Mayne, Pender, and Saturna depended on ferry connections for medical appointments, employment, and basic services. The question of whether the provincial government would commit to fleet renewal and schedule improvements for the Southern Gulf Islands routes was raised at every candidates' forum.

The primary care crisis on the Saanich Peninsula had deepened since 2020. Despite the NDP government's announcement of a Saanich Peninsula Primary Care Network and investments in team-based care models, thousands of peninsula residents remained without a family doctor by the time of the 2024 election. Walk-in clinics in Sidney and Brentwood Bay reported long wait times, and residents of the Gulf Islands faced the additional barrier of travel to access even basic medical services. The Greens proposed community health centres staffed by multidisciplinary teams, while the NDP pointed to its record of attaching hundreds of thousands of British Columbians to family doctors since 2020.

Housing affordability on the Gulf Islands presented a distinct challenge shaped by limited land, water supply constraints, and the Islands Trust mandate to preserve the rural character of the archipelago. Rental housing was scarce on Salt Spring, where seasonal tourism and short-term vacation rentals competed with the needs of year-round residents, including the workers who staffed local businesses, schools, and health services. On the Saanich Peninsula, rising property values had pushed younger families out of established neighbourhoods in Central Saanich and North Saanich. The tension between growth management and housing supply was a recurring theme in a riding where environmental preservation and livability were deeply held values.