Friday April 11, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 3:10 pm | Updated 10:11 pm]
Federal Candidate Feature | by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Will Greaves is the sort of candidate that most political parties would hope to have — educated, articulate, and a leader in the community — at 40 he feels he is not too young but not too old to grasp the range of issues that impact voters.
And he’s financially stable so as to weather the storm of the campaign disruption. Greaves is a tenured University of Victoria political science associate professor who has stepped up to be the Liberal candidate in the federal riding of Victoria. His wife is a lawyer, and their daughter is nine years old.
Greaves’ academic profile includes Global security, international relations, Arctic politics, Canadian foreign policy, and environmental politics. That aligns with many of Canada’s current challenges including Canada’s political strategy in the north and with the United States, climate impacts that impact the military and environmental concerns of a warming Arctic, and Arctic security for Canada after relying on the United States for military might in the north.
Greaves has written more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and three books: One Arctic: The Arctic Council and Circumpolar Governance (2017), Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic (2021), and Canadian Ecopolitics (2025).
Greaves leads the climate and security activities of three national research networks on Canadian security and defence, is a co-founder of the Climate Security Association of Canada, and serves on the Defence Advisory Board to Canada’s Department of National Defence.
The stars aligned:
“I wasn’t intending to seek the nomination. It wasn’t part of the master plan,” Greaves told Island Social Trends this week. But as he became more involved with the party last year he was eventually acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Victoria in Fall 2024.
“Politics is part of the glue that keeps society together,” says Greaves.
Broader context:
Greaves feels he can bring a broader context to being a Member of Parliament, dealing with the complexities of the region as well as the political and economic challenges that Canada now faces. “This is a critical time for the country,” says Greaves.
In his day job as a tenured professor at the University of Victoria, Greaves engages with young people and hears their perspectives. He feels this helps his understanding on how to bring things forward for the next generations.
Campaign activity:
The Will Greaves campaign is well underway. There are two door-knocking teams out every day to meet voters where they are; Greaves joins those teams whenever he can.
Greaves says he accepts every invitation to meet voters or discuss the issues, including all candidates meetings, meet and greet events, and coffee parties that are organized by supporters. He will be taking part in a “listening session” hosted by the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce on April 16.
He is open to media interviews and welcomes the media to his campaign office at 1010 Fort Street in downtown Victoria.
Greaves says that Conservative candidates not giving media interviews is “a bad look for any party that wants to lead the country”.
Environment and coasts:
On the environment file Greaves has some strong advisors, including former Environment Minister David Anderson who was the Victoria MP during 1993 to 2006. Greaves is the son and grandson of diplomats in Canada’s foreign service,
Greaves and Anderson chatted this week, and they both attended the Liberal rally for Liberal Leader Mark Carney on last Sunday in James Bay.
The momentum for a Liberal revival was palpable at the April 6 rally. Former Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna also attended the Sunday evening rally.
Victoria is a port city — for both trade and tourism. When ports are disrupted there are supply chain issues. Graves sees Victoria’s coastal location as a major hub for naval defence and shipping. If elected, he says he will advocate for more funding for ferries here on the west coast, similar to how the east coast provinces are supported by the federal government for their ferry system.
Issues of Arctic security and resilience are “near and dear to my heart”, said Greaves this week. National security of Canadian territory and northern waters needs far more attention than has been paid to date, he says. Vessels and aircraft can enter northern Canada. “It’s a profound and growing challenge, including ensuring the well-being and security of people there,” says Greaves.
Housing:
Housing stability is important in the North and here on south Vancouver Island as well. “Strong population growth has put a lot of pressure on housing supply,” says Greaves.
He points to how the federal government “got out of building social housing in the 1990s”, as part of the problem we see today for people at the lower end of the income spectrum.
He says a Carney Liberal government would get back into the business of subsidizing housing development. Recent announcements by the Liberal leader have promised faster housing construction to produce as many as half a million houses per year. It’s a tall order that will take public support together with private sector buy-in.
After meeting with Premier David Eby earlier this week, Carney says — if re-elected — that he will muster more support for the softwood lumber sector and dovetail that with a ramped up housing construction sector.
Food security:
Food security is another current challenge. “Canada has a lot of food, We are the breadbasket of the world,” says Greaves. “Canada is in an enviable position relative to its population.”
With the developing pressures from the trade war people’s expectation of having all foods in all seasons may need to adjust. Eating food that is locally in-season supports local farmers, is more readily available, and may cost less than imported foods.
Greaves supports immigration of people to people. More people are necessary for growing the economy but he feels that housing and health-care must be able to keep up so that people “can have access to a dignified quality of life”.
Election hopes:
“It’s been a while since a Liberal has been elected in Victoria,” says Greaves. NDP MPs have held the Victoria riding since 2006: Denise Savoie (2006-2012), then Murray Rankin (2012-2019), and now incumbent Laurel Collins (since 2019).
The candidates running in Victoria for this election are: • Laurel Collins, NDP (incumbent) • Michael Doherty, Green Party • Steven Filipovic, Independent • Cody Fraser, Rhinoceros Party • Will Greaves, Liberal Party • David Mohr, People’s Party • Mary Moreau, Christian Heritage Party • Angus Ross, Conservative Party
Greaves hopes voters will think carefully about which candidate and which party is “better able to represent their interests”. Is it better to have an MP in a re-elected Liberal government or an MP that is in the fourth or fifth party, he muses aloud.
He’s not sure that 19 years of NDP representation has been meeting “the community’s needs” and suggests that “it’s time for a change”.
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