- Incumbent: Mitzi Dean (NDP | 2017)
- Candidates:
- NDP: Darlene Rotchford
- Conservative: John Wilson
- Green: Camille Currie
- Results:
- NDP – 59%
- Green – 24%
- Liberal – 16%
- Description:
- With the implosion of BC United leading to the withdrawal of Esquimalt councillor Meagan Brame, incumbent BCNDP MLA Mitzi Dean choosing not to seek re-election last minute, and the Conservatives bagging businessman John Wilson, the new riding of Esquimalt-Colwood has been through a lot of political drama.
- After redistribution cut out Metchosin from the riding, Esquimalt-Colwood now has the same boundaries as a past predecessor, Esquimalt-Royal Roads. The configuration combines the towns of Esquimalt, Colwood, and View Royal with the Vic West neighbourhood of the City of Victoria. Furthermore, urban reservations of the Songhees and Esquimalt are of interest, along with the CFB Esquimalt with its dockyard and associated blue-collar workers and military families.
- In hopes of continuing the riding’s two-decade long NDP streak, the party has nominated first term Esquimalt councillor Darlene Rotchford. The Greens have nominated healthcare advocate and past Langford-Juan de Fuca by-election candidate Camille Currie - who managed to secure the endorsement of Meagan Brame on her way out. Finally, the Conservatives’ John Wilson served as the Chair of Greater Victoria’s Chamber of Commerce during COVID and is seeking to unite centre-right voters under his banner.
- 2020 saw the BCNDP punch upwards to a staggering 60% of the vote with the Greens in a very distant second. With Dean’s retirement and the Island’s hometown hero John Horgan (who represented Langford just next door) now off in Germany, the electoral landscape could undergo quite the shift.
- In this riding, the strength of the right increases the further west you get from downtown Victoria. Vic West and Esquimalt will see the Greens try and break new ground among the middle-class professionals moving to the neighbourhoods while the Dippers try and fend them off. View Royal has an NDP streak but has dragged its feet on densification - there may be some dissatisfaction that the Greens or the Conservatives could capitalize upon. Finally, Colwood is the most favourable to the right, thanks to rapid development in Royal Bay and an influx of new residents with weak partisan loyalties.
- To win, Rotchford has to build on past strength and expand beyond her Esquimalt roots into View Royal and Colwood. Currie, a resident of the Westshore, has run before, and could take advantage of Dean’s retirement to build on Green strength close to Victoria while making inroads among disillusioned centre-right voters in Colwood with the aid of Brame’s endorsement. Wilson has the toughest task of all - while rather moderate himself, he’ll have to outrun his party brand significantly in order to take advantage of a progressive vote split.
Hugh Chan is a second year student at UBC studying International Relations and Data Science. You can find more coverage of the 2024 BC election as well as politics across East Asia and the Anglosphere at https://x.com/shxnhugh.
