Lisa Helps

Her Worship
Lisa Helps
Mayor of Victoria, British Columbia
Assumed office
December 4, 2014
Preceded by Dean Fortin
Personal details
Born 1975/1976 (age 40–41)[1]
Nationality Canadian
Website http://www.lisahelpsvictoria.ca/

Lisa Helps is a Canadian politician, the current mayor of Victoria, British Columbia,[2] with her inauguration taking place on December 4, 2014.[3] She narrowly defeated incumbent mayor Dean Fortin in the 2014 municipal election.[4] She is the second woman, after Gretchen Brewin, to be elected mayor of the city.[5]

Career

Helps was first elected to Victoria City Council as a city councillor in the 2011 municipal election.[6] She has also worked as a community organizer and activist,[7] including a stint as executive director of a community microlending program.[6] 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[4] and was also boosted by voter frustration over delays in the Johnson Street Bridge construction project[4] and a controversial sewage treatment plan that has been a dominant issue in the city's municipal politics for several years.[7]

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,[8] 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.[8] Helps was criticized mainly by monarchists.[8]

References

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