Tuesday September 24, 2024 | ESQUIMALT, BC
BC ELECTION CAMPAIGN DAY 4 of 28
Political feature interview by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Your 28-day voter’s guide for BC Election 2024
At the doorstep, people around Esquimalt-Colwood are surprised that Darlene Rotchford is only 39-years-old.
Not only is she only in her first term as a municipal councillor with the Township of Esquimalt, but she’s trying her hand now at provincial politics — because she was asked.
Rotchford had a short time to think about it — to be the BC NDP candidate for the provincial electoral area of Esquimalt-Colwood after the prevoius candidate stepped down.
But she said yes on September 7 because she likes to be part of solutions for her community. “I’m an eternal optimist. I believe things can get better,” says Rotchford.
Rotchford has a fresh newness to her demeanor which people likely find disarming. But she’s recently made a rapid ascent in politics. She looks good for the camera and likes to fit with the program.
Rotchford is on leave from being a municipal councillor, a seat she’s held for less than two years (the last municipal election was in October 2022). She’s also on leave from her full-time job with Island Health where for 18 years she’s been a mental health and addictions worker (she moved from Nova Scotia to Victoria in 2006 to work in health-care).
Working in health-care lends an ability to make very quick changes, says Rotchford. Sounding still a bit flustered with the magnitude of recent changes, Rotchford made a quick decision to be the candidate for MLA. “Okay, I’m in!”.
Rotchford has already shown up in the community with Premier David Eby, only a few days after her candidacy was announced. The NDP announced her run for MLA in Esquimalt-Colwood on September 7, only one week after former candidate Mitzi Dean stepped down.
While only on Esquimalt council for a short while, now she sees an opportunity to help be part of province-wide solutions. “This is my next step to better my community,” she told Island Social Trends.
On board with BC NDP health-care:
Rotchford likes how the BC NDP government has opened up more mental health and substance use treatment beds, how access to services has been improved and how the services themselves have been streamlined.
Rotchford supports the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) funding that the BC NDP announced this year in Budget 2024. That was the profile of her in-community photo-op with Eby on September 10. At one point she had undertaken fertility treatment, but ultimately didn’t need IVF, she told Island Social Trends. She and her husband are now proud and happy parents to nine-month-old Evie.
Military component:
Rotchford’s husband is a navy man — an engineer with the rank Lieutenant Commander.
There is a strong military component to the Esquimalt population with the DND base right there.
Many military folks also live throughout the riding including in View Royal and Colwood.
Fitting in with the provincial momentum:
Rotchford already knows a few of the high-profile BC NDP MLAs including Grace Lore and Rob Fleming. She stood alongside Fleming as part of a joint BC infrastructure and BC Hydro announcement in July.
Rotchford has now met some of the newer candidates, mentioning Dana Lajeunesse (running in Juan de Fuca-Malahat), Sara Riddell (running in Saanich North and the Islands), and Diana Gibson (running in Oak Bay-Gordon Head) — a “new group with different ideas and networks”.
Housing and renters:
She is pleased that more housing will be coming to Esquimalt DND in the years ahead, pointing out the collaborative effort that it takes to achieve that — federal, provincial, regional and local governments working together with the base to make it happen.
Not surprisingly, housing is the BC NDP’s top campaign issue, — as government the NDP produced a suite of housing legislation in 2023 and 2024 to try dealing with the need for more housing under pressures of population growth across the province.
Rotchford says she sees the plight of renters. “It breaks my heart,” she says, to hear about renovictions and people forced out of rented homes because the owners decide to sell. She appreciates how Eby is “taking on speculators” and that thousands of investor-owned short-term rentals have been restored as market housing to rent or own. “We need to support our renters. Anything we do is important,” says Rotchford.
Rotchford is excited that a new long-term care facility is coming to Colwood for seniors (announced in Colwood on March 2023 by Health Minister Adrian Dix and then-MLA Mitzi Dean, and scheduled to open in 2027).
Learning curve and door-knocking:
IF Darlene Rotchford wins as the MLA for Esquimalt-Colwood it will be “a big learning curve”, she told Island Social Trends on Day 3 of the 28-day campaign.
She’s still trying to connect with people and hopes people will reach out.
But unlike in municipal campaigns where the candidate is pretty-well responsible for all activity, a provincial campaign comes with supports.
Information about her campaign is on her campaign website, and she gets out into the neighbourhood to door-knock, even with baby Evie in tow. People she meets while door-knocking want to discuss housing and affordability, which she says is not surprising.
Rotchford points out that she is the only Esquimalt-Colwood candidate who lives in the new riding (which includes Esquimalt, Colwood, View Royal and Vic West). She lived for a short time in the Royal Bay area of Colwood but admits to a learning curve about View Royal and Vic West. She notes that both the BC Conservative candidate John Wilson and BC Green candidate Camille Currie live outside the riding.
School districts don’t always line up with provincial boundaries. As an Esquimalt city councillor she knows Greater Victoria School District (SD61) issues well. So far, she has no connections with Sooke School District (SD62) which has a significant student population in Colwood.
Otherwise, Esquimalt-Colwood is a 53 sq km densely populated urban area within Greater Victoria which makes door-to-door much easier compared to spread-out ridings that require a lot of travel.
Party in renewal:
The BC NDP is a party in a process of renewal. Rotchford is not the only brand-new-to-politics candidate that the Eby team has brought under their wings.
While fresh blood is always a good mantra in political rhetoric it might prove to be a struggle for the BC NDP to remain as assured of returning with a majority government as so many of the long-time MLAs (many of whom started under former Premier John Horgan) have retired or moved on.
The bravado of having a well-organized and experience veritable army of campaign organizers and volunteers will be the BC NDP’s strength in holding up the newest candidates through the campaign.
The general election is on Saturday October 19. Just three-and-a-half weeks left to go.
===== RELATED:
- Camille Currie on why she’d be the right MLA for Esquimalt-Colwood (September 21, 2024)
- John Wilson could achieve an upset in Esquimalt-Colwood (September 12, 2024)
- BC NDP chooses Darlene Rotchford as candidate for Esquimalt-Colwood (September 7, 2024)
- Mitzi Dean pulls out of election 2024 (August 31, 2024)
- Westshore Mental Health and Substance Use Service Hub has opened in Colwood (August 29, 2024)
- New housing coming to DND base in Esquimalt (August 17, 2024)
- Rob Fleming not running in 2024 election (July 4, 2024)
- 260 long-term care beds for seniors coming to the west shore in 2027 (March 22, 2023)
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