It's expected to be one of the most interesting contests Saanich residents have seen in nearly two decades.
Two established politicians will campaign for your vote to be elected mayor. Incumbent Frank Leonard, who's been in Saanich's top job since 1996, and David Cubberley, a former longtime councillor and MLA, both filed their nomination papers.
As well, David Shebib threw his hat into the ring Friday to become mayor of Saanich. Interestingly, Shebib is also running for mayor in Victoria at the same time.
Shebib has ran unsuccessfully in nearly a dozen elections – municipal, provincial and federal – since the late 1970s.
And twelve Saanich residents – including seven incumbent councillors – will square off to earn one of the eight councillor seats up for grabs in the Nov. 19 municipal election.
"This sounds like it'll be an interesting election (in Saanich)," said Michael Prince, a political analyst and University of Victoria’s Lansdowne professor of social policy.
"You've got a good, honest two-man race for mayoralty and a bit of a race for the councillors seats," Prince said, prior to Shebib's announcement.
Councillors Susan Brice, Judy Brownoff, Vic Derman, Paul Gerrard, Dean Murdock, Vicki Sanders and Leif Wergeland are seeking reelection The only councillor not running again is Wayne Hunter.
The newcomers are Ingrid Ip, Jesse McClinton, Rob Wickson, Nichola Wade and Harald Wolf. Wickson is president of the Gorge-Tillicum Community Association and is the past chair of both the B.C. and Victoria Chambers of Commerce. Wade is a former Saanich councillor.
McClinton has run in previous elections, most recently in the 2009 provincial election as a Liberal in the Victoria-Swan Lake riding. Wolf ran for mayor in 2008 against Leonard, and garnered 28 per cent of the vote.
"The seven incumbents are probably well-positioned to hold their own (seat), more or less, so it'll likely be a battle for the eighth and final spot among three other people, which isn't bad odds," Prince said. "But you've got a couple of (these non-incumbents) with interesting backgrounds. At the end of the night, they might actually get more votes than a couple of the councillors. This race lets the incumbents know that they'll have to earn this win and work hard for it."
For more information on the municipal election, visit saanich.ca/living/election.html
kslavin@saanichnews.com
Get to know your candidates
For mayor:
David Cubberley, cubbs4mayor.ca
Frank Leonard, frankleonard.ca
David Shebib, shebibd@yahoo.ca
For council:
Susan Brice, susanbrice.ca
Judy Brownoff, judybrownoff.ca
Vic Derman, vicderman.com
Paul Gerrard, paulgerrard.ca
Ingrid Ip, voteingridforsaanich@telus.net
Jesse McClinton, jessemcclinton.com
Dean Murdock, deanmurdock.ca
Vicki Sanders, vickisanders.com
Nichola Wade, nicholawade.com
Leif Wergeland, leifwergeland.ca
Rob Wickson, robwickson.ca