By Malcolm Curtis, Victoria Times Colonist, 11 September 2005
Ben Isitt is promising to give Mayor Alan Lowe a run for his money after winning a surprise endorsement Saturday from the Victoria Civic Electors to run for the City of Victoria’s top job.
The executive of the VCE, a municipal farm team for the NDP, had recommended against fielding a mayoral candidate for strategic reasons, believing that Lowe could not be beaten. But during a meeting at James Bay community school that lasted more than six hours, a majority of the 230 members rejected that advice and threw their support behind Isitt.
“There is a progressive majority in this city and if we work together we can win,” he told the gathering.
Isitt believes he can defeat the right-of-centre Lowe if his team can mobilize enough voters — only 32 per cent of the electorate voted in the last city election — to get to the polls on Nov. 19.
The 27-year-old, who models himself after NDP icon Tommy Douglas, ran against Lowe in 2001, receiving almost a third of the vote, after the VCE declined to endorse him.
This time round, party members felt differently. “I think we should be running as many candidates as we can,” said Steve Orcherton, former NDP MLA for Victoria-Hillside.
Isitt also won the endorsement of such prominent party figures as former mayor David Turner and Colin Graham, secretary treasurer of the Victoria Labour Council.
But he was not backed by incumbent VCE councillors Dean Fortin, Pamela Madoff and Denise Savoie.
Savoie is leaving city council to run as the Victoria NDP candidate in the next federal election. Before the party voted to support Isitt, she said running a candidate against Lowe, who is seeking a third term, “would detract from the energy of the campaign.”
However, Isitt said he has met with the VCE’s six candidates for council and they left the meeting united.
The candidates selected include incumbents Dean Fortin and Pamela Madoff, as well as provincial civil servant Erik Kaye, community worker Chantal Brodeur, film-maker Bryan Skinner and communications consultant Marianne Alto.
Isitt is studying for a doctorate in B.C. social history through a Canada Graduate Scholarship.
He developed a reputation as an activist in the last election when he accused the provincial Liberals of “legislative vandalism.” He also charged that city hall was devoting less importance to social welfare, neighbourhood planning and environmental stewardship than “the profits of a handful of property developers.”
Isitt said he decided to seek the mayoral candidacy just three weeks ago. “When it became apparent there were no other New Democrats willing to run against Mayor Lowe, I decided I had to throw my hat in the ring.”
He said the VCE platform would be rolled out in the coming weeks. He did say he counts poverty as the biggest issue faced by the city, along with the need for rapid transit, the expansion of green space and “decisions out of city hall that put the environment first.”
