With the nomination period for municipal elections officially over, another candidate has thrown their name into the hat on who will become the next mayor of Victoria.
Brendan Marshall, who is a resident of Esquimalt, has entered the race to be the city’s next Mayor.
Though he’s from Victoria and has lived in the capital region his whole life, he’s never had a professional background in politics.
Marshall currently lives in Esquimalt, but says he is running in Victoria’s mayoral race because he wants to “bring some common sense back to Victoria.”
“Things have gotten so bad with crime and homelessness, senseless traffic redirections, out of control spending, you name it,” Marshall told Victoria Buzz. “I feel like there’s more reason to run in Victoria than anywhere else right now.”
Marshall wants to focus on reducing crime and homelessness in the city, as well as making the city more affordable and accessible when it comes to housing.
“Ultimately, I think that we need to have an open book. We need to have an independent audit on the spending and I want to be open about where the money’s going,” said Marshall.
“The city has spent untold millions of dollars on attempts to house the homeless and it seems like everything’s gotten worse. We need to really disclose the true numbers of what we’ve spent on the traffic redirection projects and whatnot.”
Brendan Marshall is one of the owners of the Sunnyside Cafe in Esquimalt, most notably known as the source of some controversy in protesting the mask and vaccination passport mandates during the pandemic.
When asked about how this could affect his campaign, Marshall said, “if people are being marginalized in any way, I’m prepared to stand up for them and to put my neck out to protect them. It was the passport that we didn’t feel right about, and I spoke up against it.”
Stephen Andrew and Marianne Alto are the only two running for Mayor who have previously served on city council. There are five other candidates who will be on the ballot this October, including: Lyall Atkinson, Rafael Fuentes, Rod Graham, David Arthur Johnston and Michelle Wiboltt.
Previous Mayor, Lisa Helps is not running for re-election.
The election is set to be on October 15th.
Related:
Esquimalt cafe closes business in protest over BC vaccine card
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps announces she will not seek re-election in 2022
