Sunday August 18, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 6 pm]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Long-time NDP shining light Rob Fleming is not seeking re-election in the BC provincial election this fall. He made that announcement in early July amidst the cut and thrust of opposition parties (particularly the Conservatives of BC) saying that the NDP won’t have the same traction in this election as they have in years past.
But as Premier David Eby said in June, it’s the government’s job to keep running the province right up to the election. And Fleming keeps making government announcements, recently including expansion of bus lanes on Highway 1 in Victoria, next-steps in development of the Belleville ferry terminal in downtown Victoria, and an energy infrastructure announcement with BC Hydro for expanded service on South Vancouver Island.
Fleming has been the MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake since 2005 (first elected in Victoria-Hillside in 2005, then re-elected in Victoria-Swan Lake in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2020).
Over his 20 years in provincial politics, Fleming has been the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure since October 2020, and before that the Minister of Education. Over the years he has been key to NDP success in a number of ridings beyond his own.
In the 38th Parliament (2005-2009) he was the critic for advanced education and tourism, then in 2009-2013 served as the Official Opposition Critic for education and was the environment critic as well. Previous to provincial politics, Fleming was a two-term Victoria City Councilor during which time he represented Victoria at the CRD, Victoria Regional Transit Commission, Capital Region Housing Corporation and Tourism Victoria.
By stepping back from elected politics this round, Fleming leaves his NDP stronghold up for grabs in the October 19 election. His easy-going, from-the-heart, plain-speaking but business-professional delivery will likely be missed by the NDP overall and NDP Leader David Eby as the party moves forward into new territory after this fall’s election.
Some of Fleming’s practicality learned on the job as a City of Victoria municipal councillor remained and he’d been a provincial government employee before that, which is probably what caught John Horgan’s attention long ago as the former Premier Horgan was building the party in new directions (Horgan was also first elected to the BC Legislature in 2005).
Flemng is one of many long-time Horgan-era NDP players who is not seeking re-election this fall. It’s been a two-decade run for most of them. Any combination of age and job fatigue signals for them a fresh start after October 19, 2024.
Signing off:
Fleming said last month in a media interview on July 5 with Island Social Trends: “I appreciate the trust and confidence and support of everyone in Victoria-Swan Lake.” Now he wants the opportunity to be there for somebody else. “It’s natural for others to step up,” said Fleming in Victoria last month after an announcement with BC Hydro about electricity grid expansion on Vancouver Island.
About his decision to not seek re-election: “It felt right, and it felt good,” he said, mentioning that he wants to spend more time with his two kids before they ‘leave the nest’ and to look for “other ways that I can contribute”.
He’s now “taking a different role in supporting good people to step up”, said Fleming as to bringing new people into the BC NDP and run for public office.
Accomplishments as an MLA:
He cites highlights of his accomplishments as the Belleville ferry terminal upgrade and facilitating more new schools and school seismic upgrades. In his role as transportation minister he helped improve the commuting times on Highway 1 from downtown Victoria to the west shore including bus shoulder lanes on Highway 1 as recently announced.
This month Fleming said his transportation ministry has done the preparatory work to be ready for seat belts to be mandatory on school buses in BC (as might soon be federally regulated). His thoughts to the government that follows him is to “continue the efforts on customer care to businesses” as highways and roads are upgraded.
“The way you stage it, the way you staff it, the hours of operation of construction” are things the future MOTI can remember to do — even with “financial implications”, said Fleming during a press conference on July 5 in Victoria. “Working closely with business is really important,” said Fleming, noting that he hears a lot of complaints about interruptions to business due to the Broadway subway project construction.
He compares the NDP government’s considerations for business to the disaster for business that was Cambie Street (by the BC Liberal government) which “they dug a huge trench, left it in there for years, there was no vehicular access or even pedestrian accesses to businesses”.
Fleming says the BC NDP government spent “hundreds of millions of extra dollars over the lifetime of the project to make sure there is continuous access on Broadway Street — we still have Rapid Bus carrying 10’s of thousands of people through that corridor each and every day that can go to those businesses, way-finding services to get to those businesses, off-street parking, websites, and staff working to come to business solutions”.
Fleming called that a difference between “our approach and what we saw in the past”. He pointed out the improved public communications during the current Highway 17 Keating Cross Road overpass project, including advisories about overnight closures.
Affordable housing is “definitely a number one issue”, says Fleming about his own riding. He cites the BC NDP success in getting thousands of units built compared to the previous government that he says “under-invested in any non-profit housing” (referring to the BC Liberals — now BC United — who led government during 2001 to mid-2017).
He also says BC families have been facing child care affordability challenges, which he says the current BC NDP government has been working to resolve. Each though it might not have reached $10-a-day for all families with children in child care, still the rebates amount to thousands of dollars a year, which he calls “a sea change”. He says “you cannot trust the opposition parties to maintain that, they don’t support it”, said Fleming to Island Social Trends.
Fleming said with enthusiasm that he was part of the NDP government ministry shift to including child care in the education ministry’s name, which came into effect in 2022. That shift aligned with curriculum development for early childhood education. It meant that staff from both ministries could collaborate better in the same building, he noted.
Progressive vote up for grabs:
With Fleming exiting the picture, possibly the best-known name of the four candidates in the riding is running for the BC Greens, which could activate a split of the progressive vote between Green and NDP in Victoria-Swan Lake.
The BC Greens came second in all four races during 2009 to 2020 in Victoria-Swan Lake but Fleming held a healthy winning margin each time.
Who’s running in Victoria-Swan Lake:
Here’s who is running in the Victoria-Swan Lake riding in 2024:
- BC Conservative – Tim Taylor – Victoria area Realtor
- BC Green – Christina Winter – co-launched Marigold Law Group with her husband; a Green organizer for many candidates and campaigns over the years
- BC NDP – Nina Krieger – executive director at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre
- BC United – Daryl Learned – a manager at ICBC; former social studies school teacher
Each of these candidates will no doubt do their best, but none brings the political vision that Fleming will leave as his legacy for people-first, smart-management within the massive machinery of provincial governance and politics.
About the riding:
Victoria-Swan Lake has a footprint in both some of the poorest income households as well as some of the higher-income areas of Victoria just east of the downtown, including some parts of Saanich.
The riding edges the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding along Bay Street, the Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding along Shelbourne Street, the Saanich South riding along McKenzie Avenue, borders the Trans Canada Highway and also Esquimalt along Gorge Road and reaches as far as View Royal on the west.
===== RELATED:
- Hwy 1 bus lanes will extend out to west shore (July 29, 2024)
- New BC Hydro substation coming to Langford (July 5, 2024)
- Rob Fleming not running in 2024 election (July 4, 2024)
- Government’s job to keep running the province (June 18, 2024)
- Greater expectations of commercial truck drivers: big fines for infrastructure crashes (March 12, 2024)
- BC housing initiatives announced twice this week (September 29, 2023)
- Combo professional truck driver training and highway safety (November 14, 2022)
- BC State of Emergency ends Jan 18 as highway restoration continues (January 18, 2022)
- Easier road: Minister Fleming’s shift to transportation (April 7, 2021)
- Transportation insights from Minister Fleming to business community (March 2, 2021)
NEWS SECTIONS: BC ELECTION 2024 | POLITICS | BC NDP | BC GREENS
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been producing socioeconomic and political analysis about the west shore and south Vancouver Island region since 2008 (MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, Island Social Trends 2020 to present).
She did daily news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic health emergency in 2020-2021 and into 2022, then began reporting alongside the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
In 2023 Ms Brooke was nominated for the Jack Webster Foundation’s award that recognizes a woman journalist who contributes to her community through journalism.
Back in 1991-92 she wrote and taught the 36-week curriculum called Writing for Business and Journalism at the Western Academy of Photography in Victoria. At the start of her career in 1981 she was awarded the McGeachy Prize in Journalism at the University of Saskatchewan for the likelihood of succeeding in journalism.