Monday March 24, 2025 | COLWOOD, BC [Posted at 1:19 pm PT | Updated 5:50 pm]
Political analysis an editorial | by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The Conservative Party of Canada has appointed Grant Cool as their candidate in the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke federal riding.
Parachuting in a a candidate who is unfamiliar with the region they hope to represent is never seen as cool, but particularly so in the case of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke which has so many deep nuances and unique and diverse demographics and community and environmental needs.
Maja Tait – who is the NDP candidate for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke — is widely known in the region. Until the writ dropped on Sunday she had served on Sooke municipal council since 2008 (councillor 2008 to 2014, and Mayor 2014 to 2025). She has served broadly throughout the south Vancouver Island region including on the Capital Regional District board and on the Greater Victoria transit commission. She was president of the Union of BC Municipalities in 2020.
Tait was out door-knocking to meet residents in Colwood this weekend. She has worked the Sooke region for decades.
Tait calls the drop-in action taken by the Conservatives “extremely discouraging” from a standpoint of local community engagement, and even sticks up for a competing local woman nominee, Tracy Foran, who has worked hard over the past year or more to engage with conservative-leaning voters in the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke region (though it’s unclear whether Foran was just holding the spot for this eventual moment to bring in a ‘star’ candidate).
“This is extremely discouraging behaviour from Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives towards people in our community,” says NDP candidate Tait. “Regardless of political party, our community deserves a choice on who represents them — a from-away millionaire doesn’t represent the everyday families here, nor does pushing a woman aside in the process.”
Intense eye on ESS:
Grant Cool is based in Victoria. His LinkedIn profile shows that he has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and a B.Sc. in metallurgical engineering.
Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are more broadly hoping to see more critical mineral mining and export in this country.
This is a high-profile example of rough and tumble in the federal race that has reached the coastal forested shores of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke where population growth is burgeoning. The riding was long held by Randall Garrison as the NDP MP (2011 to 2024), and now seems like easy bait.
The desire to politically reassign this region to the conservative-leaning or corporate-style political realm was also seen in the Liberals trying to win the seat in 2015 with lawyer David Merner, in 2019 with military star candidate Jamie Hammond, and in 2021 with local Colwood councillor Doug Kobayashi (who after that became mayor). In those years the Conservatives never really launched any high-profile efforts to run against the NDP stronghold.
The NDP has held six of seven seats on south Vancouver Island since 2011; the seventh seat has been held by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (now co-leader) during that time. The blue Conservatives or red Liberals would love nothing more than to make a dent into the NDP stronghold on this island.
Getting to know the region:
Tait has spent years in the political trenches getting to deeply know and respond to the many sectors and interest groups of the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke region.
In addition to Esquimalt and Sooke, the geographically large electoral area includes Colwood, View Royal, Metchosin and parts of Saanich East, as well as the Juan de Fuca area including East Sooke and up to Jordan River and the First Nations in those areas.
Esquimalt is home to a DND base and many military families live in the region. Sooke and Metchosin have a rich history of defending local agriculture and protecting the coastal environment.
Tait has been instrumental in maintaining a lens on the health sector needs of the Sooke region. She has championed long-built relationships with the school district and local small business.
The change factor:
Voters may wish to review their priorities for the type of candidate they want driving innovation and change but also the careful work of environmental protection in this vibrant coastal region.
Every election carries the desire for change (as no one candidate can ever truly represent everyone), but a knee-jerk shift to the right may not serve Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke well.
Star candidate & single-issue drawbacks:
Bringing in a glitzy candidate might have worked for the Liberals. Trudeau’s era did well by that, for the most part — until it failed with high profile disasters like Jody Wilson-Raybould and Dr Jane Philpott for whom lack of mainstream political savvy pulled them under.
It can be a significant pitfall (for voters and constituents) if their candidates or eventual Member of Parliament don’t know the ropes and levers of high-stakes politics.
A few new politicians (from other careers) make a full transition (e.g. former police chief Bill Blair who has become a stellar Minister of National Defence) but not knowing know the world of politics upon entering a high-profile race can be a pitfall.
The biggest current example of someone with zero political experience suddenly thrust into the top job is Mark Carney as the Liberal Leader (and prime minister at the moment). He is still boardroom-like in his responses to media questions, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is evidence that the shift has been swift from boardroom to media spotlight, for all Canadians to see.
Bringing in a lawyer to be a Justice Minister, a doctor to be Minister of Health or now in the case of Cool to be a candidate with expertise in minerals and science makes sense on the surface. But the underlying skill set of political savvy is often missing, and that is the shortfall that staff teams and political party backup cannot ultimately cover.
This won’t be the last time that parachuting a star candidate into a thirsted-for riding will be tried. But we see the reasons why it doesn’t usually work out — except of course for possibly pushing another party out of the region for a term or two which is usually the only reason to do it.
Others in the ESS race:
The Liberals and the Green Party have not yet announced their candidates for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke.
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- Bank of Canada Governor: more uncertainty, tough decisions as trade war escalates (March 20, 2025)
- Jagmeet Singh launches south Vancouver Island NDP campaign office (March 13, 2025)
- Maja Tait launches her federal NDP campaign alongside Jagmeet Singh (March 11, 2025)
- Sooke Mayor Maja Tait turning from local to federal (August 15, 2023)
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