Thursday September 12, 2024 | COLWOOD, BC [Updated September 13, 2024]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
From running a robust bus company to next perhaps running a diverse riding, John Wilson is trying his hand at elected politics in the upcoming BC provincial election.
Wilson is the Conservative Party of BC candidate for Esquimalt-Colwood. He may be able to achieve an upset there.
Two women competitors:
Running from the start in Esquimalt-Colwood has been BC Green candidate Camille Currie who advocates strongly on health-care reform and with her husband raises a young family.
The BC NDP have a brand new candidate there in Darlene Rotchford — a first-term Esquimalt municipal councillor and Island Health addictions worker who only days ago replaced Mitzi Dean (who stepped down on August 31).
Both of these strong women are likely to pull much of the women’s vote in the riding.
Running a large local business:
Wilson is the owner of The Wilson’s Group of Companies. A past chair of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce (2020 to 2023 during the pandemic when he advocated for government support for businesses and their employees), tourism leader and team sports investor, he will likely pull the business sector and sport community votes.
The riding which includes Esquimalt, Colwood, View Royal and Vic West has a strong military voter base as well as some high-density and low-income urban components (in Vic West) as well as fast-growth suburbia (in Colwood).
In the past, Wilson has expressed interest in the concept of a west shore ferry service that would originate from Colwood.
View Royal is a mix of attentive local government and established housing. View Royal is home to the Victoria General Hospital and major transportation routes including Highway 1 and the Island Highway (running from Colwood to Vic West).
With over 35 years of experience in the ground transportation and tourism industry, John Wilson is recognized for being at the forefront of innovation and growth in British Columbia’s transportation sector, in an on-the-ground sort of way. His office is still in the Wilson’s bus depot facility on Glanford Avenue in Saanich.
A key race to watch:
This is a race to watch on election night. If Wilson wins it will turn over seven years of the NDP footprint that was built by Mitzi Dean (and Maurine Karagianis before her) during the Horgan-era NDP in that part of the west shore.
It’s also in many ways a test of the typical old-boys network influence in politics.
Currie has the most political experience now on the provincial landscape and Rotchford has the full backing of the BC NDP and works in the local health authority. They are both younger women entering the fray of politics that is challenging to those who try to break the mold.
===== RELATED:
- BC Green candidate Camille Currie endorsed by former Esquimalt-Colwood BC United candidate (September 11, 2024)
- BC NDP chooses Darlene Rotchford as candidate for Esquimalt-Colwood (September 7, 2024)
- BC Conservatives are ‘untested’ says former BC United candidate Meagan Brame (September 1, 2024)
- Mitzi Dean pulls out of election 2024 (August 31, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: BC ELECTION 2024
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR, has been covering news of the west shore area through a socioeconomic lens with political analysis since 2008. Since 2020 she has reported alongside the BC Legislative Press Gallery after reporting daily on the pandemic during 2020-2022.
She is a publishing entrepreneur, with prior to IslandSocialTrends.ca (which launched in 2020) produced the weekly print/PDF West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), the weekly print Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and the quarterly colour glossy MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010). All those news publications are permanently archived at the Sooke Region Museum.
Ms Brooke ran for school trustee in 2022 in the west shore. In 2023 she was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation journalism award for her contributions to community through journalism.