Three-term NDP MP Denise Savoie convinced most of her neighbours in Vic West to vote for her in the May 2 federal election. She garnered exactly 75 per cent of the vote at the Vic West elementary school polling site – her strongest result in the Victoria riding.
But the so-called orange wave doesn’t extend over the entire neighbourhood. Savoie also saw her lowest support in the entire city from the community’s only other polling site. Residents who voted at the Delta Victoria Hotel, drawing largely from Songhees residents, gave her 49 per cent support.
Conservative candidate Patrick Hunt, by contrast, saw some of his strongest support in the city at this voting site, at 30 per cent.
The riding’s Saanich and Oak Bay residents voted slightly more to the right of the political spectrum.
Hunt beat out Savoie in 15 of 219 polls – mostly centered around the University of Victoria.
At the polling site along the UVic’s southern border, at 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Rd., Hunt won 38 per cent of the vote compared with 31 per cent for Savoie.
To the east of the University, at the Cadboro Bay United Church polling site, Hunt almost tied Savoie, receiving 35 per cent support.
To nobody’s surprise, Liberal candidate Christopher Causton saw his strongest results in Oak Bay.
Causton, who is returning to his duties as mayor in the municipality, was awarded 26, 25, 23 and 20 per cent of the vote in the municipality’s four polling sites.
The Green candidate, though last in the riding, found pockets of support in the city’s poorest neighbourhoods.
In general, Jared Giesbrecht’s popularity rose and fell in tandem with the NDP.
His campaign, however, resonated strongest in one particular area of the city: a Green belt stretches directly east of the downtown core, between Fort and Bay Streets.
Giesbrecht won between 17 to 19 per cent of the vote at three polling sites at the Truth Centre (1201 Fort St), North Park Manor (875 North Park Street) and Geoge Jay Elementary School (1118 Princess Ave).
rholmen@vicnews.com
Riding results
Proportion of votes by candidate.
• Denise Savoie, NDP: 50.8
• Patrick Hunt: Conservative: 23.6
• Christopher Causton: 14.0
• Jared Giesbrecht: 11.6