Friday May 3, 2024 | VIEW ROYAL, BC [Updated 11 pm]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The former mayor of View Royal, David Screech, is throwing his hat into the ring as a nominee for Liberal candidate in the South Vancouver Island riding of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke (ESS).
Screech sent out a simple email advisory to media yesterday about his federal intentions. A candidate nomination meeting has not yet been held by the ESS Liberal riding association.
Screech still runs his Gregg’s Furniture & Upholstery business in Victoria and has had 18 months to think about his political engagement since losing his municipal seat in the October 2022 election.
Screech, age 64 coming up in October, says he may close his retail service business soon — for reasons including a shortage of skilled labour in the upholstery trade as well as lease rates — so he can focus full-time on federal things.
He attended a brief Liberal get-together at the Fairmont Empress on April 19 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in town for a range of political and government announcements, engagements and meetings (including at the University of Victoria and Esquimalt DND).
Held by NDP since 2011:
Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke has been held by the NDP since 2011 when the current MP Randall Garrison was first elected (re-elected 2015, 2019, 2021). Lately Garrison has been stepping back quite a bit into the shadows while trying to encourage NDP candidate Maja Tait into the forefront, even though the next federal election is likely not until the scheduled date of October 20, 2025.
This idea of jumping from municipal to federal was also seen last week when Capital Regional District (CRD) Chair Colin Plant was nominated as the NDP candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands (another South Vancouver Island federal riding).
Screech says he has “always been a real center / center-left” politician. “I identify with the Liberals and their values,” Screech told Island Social Trends in an exclusive interview on May 2. He’s been a Liberal at heart “for all of his adult life” and a member of the party for about 25 to 30 years.
David Screech has lived in the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke riding for 30 years and served in municipal politics for 20 years (Town of View Royal councillor 2002-2014 then mayor during 2014-2022).
View Royal within the large riding:
But Screech says the View Royal part of the geographically large and mostly coastal riding “gets ignored”. He said he made it a point, while mayor, to not cross the political lines into federal issues. He did, though, show up at Liberal events such as when Jamie Hammond ran for the Liberals in ESS in 2019.
“Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke has really changed,” says Screech. The riding (under various names) was held in times past by Liberal MPs including Keith Martin (who switched to Liberal in 2004, after serving as a Reform Party MP from 1993), David Anderson (who served as Environment Minister 1999-2004 in the Chretien government), and former late BC Premier Dave Barrett (1988-1993).
Under NDP MP Randall Garrison for now 13 years, little has been heard about View Royal. Emphasis has been regionally on Sooke and Esquimalt, and in terms of issues Garrison gained community recognition for his work on defence, gender rights, and protecting the orca whales.
Bringing ESS into focus:
If in fact the outspoken Colwood Councillor Ian Ward plans to run as the Conservative candidate in ESS, many eyes will be on the riding that was renamed to include the name ‘Sooke’ under the advocacy of now outgoing MP Randall Garrison. In the 2021 election, Doug Kobayashi (now Colwood mayor as of October 2022) ran for the Liberals in ESS.
Garrison has had his eye on Sooke Mayor Maja Tait for years to replace him as an NDP MP, long ago lending advantage to that effort by adding Sooke to the riding name. Tait has been visible since her candidacy announcement in August 2023, but this year has given serious focus to municipal challenges in Sooke.
The Green Party of Canada hasn’t announced a candidate yet for ESS; in 2019 David Merner (previously a Liberal candidate in 2015) ran as the Green candidate in ESS, but this time around he will be helping run a Green campaign in another riding.
Population profile:
Unlike other ridings in BC where the population mix is more diverse, as of the 2021 Census the residents of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke are 85.4% of European ancestry followed by 4.73% Indigenous and 3.08% East Asian.
With former BC Premier John Horgan active in the region’s politics with a strong base in Sooke (2004-2022), the role of Indigenous leadership has risen to prominence in the area including within the local SD62 Sooke School District.
Vote profile shows NDP strength:
In ESS in the 2021 election, the NDP carried 43.23 of the vote — that was double the Liberal (21.88%) and Conservative (20.97%) vote combined.
If for whatever reason the island-wide NDP stronghold weakens in ESS in the next election, the right-leaning voters who consider placing their vote with Liberal or Conservative might change the tides in the riding results.
Garrison might still be working behind the scenes to bolster NDP ground-game strategies, but outwardly the riding is beginning to look vulnerable.
Big issues:
Housing and social programs including health-care are top challenges for the Liberals, says Screech. He worries about those things the most for the local ESS riding.
On the broader view, he says that “the whole world is going through a transformational time” due to inflation, economic challenges and wars.
“But Canada is still a country that people love to envy,” he told Island Social Trends. He says the Liberal government is “working toward a balanced budget” and that taxation measures — while unpopular — are there to deliver a country like Canada, where people across the board are supported. “A fair taxation system is needed to pay for that,” says Screech.
“The Liberals took care of the country and businesses and citizens very well through what was a very difficult time,” says Screech with reference to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022. Management of COVID vaccines was a huge challenge, and there were border-related issues. Though it should be noted that while the Liberal government brought in CERB that program was presented and insisted upon by the NDP MPs in the House of Commons even before the Supply and Confidence Agreement that started in March 2022.
Screech is in favour of Canada meeting its 2% commitment to NATO (currently at 1.38%) though the prime minister has always argued that Canada contributes in many other ways (e.g. training and supply) that are perhaps more in-keeping with Canada’s overall direction for peace-keeping. “How we get there (to 2%) will be a difficult conversation,” says Screech.
Aiming for the next life phase:
Screech says his wife Jean is highly enthusiastic and support of his intentions for federal politics. They have three grown children and four grandchildren.
This political choice comes at the tail-end of a highly local career (business and municipal politics) and would mean a significant shift in energy requirement, travel and depth in political issues.
Screech certainly has name recognition in the Greater Victoria area — having also served as a director on the Capital Regional District (CRD) board for many years. He will have an uphill climb to match the more vigorous work so far by would-be challengers. But political winds are ever-changing and sometimes the most unexpected circumstances can come into play.
Nomination meeting date:
The date for a Liberal nomination meeting in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke has not yet been set. So far, Screech is the only Liberal who has put his name forward in the riding, says Liberal ESS riding association president Rick Baker.
===== RELATED:
- Saanich-Gulf Islands NDP chooses Colin Plant as their candidate (April 27, 2024)
- Maja Tait kickstarts her federal campaign in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke (September 1, 2023)
- View Royal Mayor David Screech vying for one more term in town’s growth phase (July 20, 2022)
- NEWS SECTIONS: Federal Election 2025 | Vancouver Island