Gary Beyer, a former Victoria Mayoral Candidate, has stepped forward to endorse Stephen Hammond.
Beyer dropped out of the race, saying there were too many qualified candidates, and he didn't want to split the vote and have Lisa Helps re-elected.
He says after dropping out, he looked into the other candidates, and found three stood out as valid potential mayors: Micheal Geoghegan, Bruce MCGuigan, and Stephen Hammond.
Beyer reached out to all three of them, and after some correspondence, he says "One stood out, and with, I'm going to call it with reservation, I am going to endorse Stephen Hammond as the person I believe most capable A: of unseating the current Mayor, and B: doing a better job than I believe the other two could."
He says Hammond has been able to bring communities together, and get the government to do things, such as dealing with the tent city on the court yard. Beyer admits that Hammond received a lot of heat from people who thought he was being too hard on the tent city occupants, but believes it worked out in the end, saying "He did something the city wasn't willing to do, he forced the issue. Tent city is gone, we've got a beautiful new park there."
Although Beyer is endorsing Hammond, he does not support NewCouncil.ca. He says slates might work in a city of a million people, but it doesn't work for Victoria. "I would rather the electorate look at each and every candidate, and vote based on merit, not based 'Hey I'm part of a slate'. I don't like it in Saanich, I don't like it in Victoria. Look at the candidates, vote accordingly."
Beyer encourages everyone to go out and cast their votes on October 20th. He says that local politics are the ones that directly impact residents, so everyone should participate and make their voices heard.