Lisa Helps

Lisa Helps is a Canadian politician, the current mayor of Victoria, British Columbia,^[1] with her inauguration taking place on December 4, 2014.^[2] She narrowly defeated incumbent mayor Dean Fortin in the 2014 municipal election.^[3] She is the second woman, after Gretchen Brewin, to be elected mayor of the city.^[4]

Career

Helps was first elected to Victoria City Council as a city councillor in the 2011 municipal election.^[5] She has also worked as a community organizer and activist,^[6] including a stint as executive director of a community microlending program.^[5] Her mayoral campaign revolved heavily around a proposal to launch a more ambitious plan to deal with the issues of homelessness and affordable housing in the city^[3] and was also boosted by voter frustration over delays in the Johnson Street Bridge construction project^[3] and a controversial sewage treatment plan that has been a dominant issue in the city's municipal politics for several years.^[6]

At her inauguration ceremony as mayor, held on December 4, Helps declined to recite the traditional, though not legally required, oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, the Canadian monarch,^[7] explaining she does not hold any ideology against the Queen, but wanted to emphasise her opinion that Victoria is part of Songhees and Esquimalt territory.^[7] Helps was criticized mainly by monarchists.^[7]

References