There are two current Westshore ridings. Both are descendants of Esquimalt Juan de Fuca, which was won by NDP Randall Garrison before redistricting in 2015. Prior to that it had been dominated by Keith Martin, who ran with several parties: the Liberals (2004, 2006, 2008), Alliance (2000), Reform (1997, 1993) and briefly sat as an independent. Before Martin the seat was occupied by former premier Dave Barrett, the NDP's first BC Premier. Garrison had been a relatively close second at points in the 2000s before breaking through in 2011.

The Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke spinoff riding was held by Garrison until his retirement last year, while the the other part of the previous riding was combined with parts of the Cowichan riding to create Cowichan–Malahat–Langford. A vast riding, C–M–L spans from Langford and Highlands west past Port Renfrew, northwest past Lake Cowichan, and north up the Malahat to Chemainus. The bulk of the riding population is at this point split fairly evenly between Langford residents and Cowichan Valley residents, following Langford's substantial growth in the past decade.

NDP MP Alistair MacGregor has won all three elections this riding has had, each time by double digits. The provincial riding that covers similar areas was an extremely close race last fall between the BC NDP and BC Conservatives.

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Below are the 2025 candidates, in descending order of the party vote share in the riding’s past elections. Those party vote percentages are included in brackets, from the most recent in 2021 to the earliest in 2015.

Photos from candidate webpages

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Alistair MacGregor – NDP (43%, 36%, 36%)

Incumbent MP MacGregor has sponsored bills in Parliament on issues including food price transparency, volunteer firefighters, and limits on freighters anchoring in local waters. He has been the NDP Caucus Chair and the NDP Critic for Justice, Public Safety, Food Price Inflation as well as Deputy Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food. He was a constituency assistant to former MP Jean Crowder and a tree planter before being elected, and currently has a small Cowichan Valley farm.

Priorities: More federal healthcare funding, stopping tax havens / loopholes, building many more homes incl. on federal land, supporting farmers, limiting grocery prices, supporting seniors and caregivers, universal childcare, national pharmacare, ending fossil fuel projects

[Candidate page] [Campaign Facebook]

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Jeff Kibble – Conservative (28%, 26%, 23%)

The Toronto-born, Vancouver-raised Kibble spent 28 years in the Royal Canadian Navy and volunteers with the Wounded Warrior BC run. His wife is in the Armed Forces, and he cared for her when she was injured in the service.

Priorities: Economic growth & stability, cost of living, cutting red tape to reduce time and cost of private housing construction but avoiding government housing construction, improving and fast-tracking benefits for veterans, giving veterans priority for public service jobs and government contracts, increasing drug criminalization, adding treatment spaces

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[Candidate page] [Campaign Facebook]

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‍Blair Herbert – Liberal (16%, 16%, 24%)

Herbert has also been the Liberal nominee in the past two elections. He is a real estate agent who ran a small business for 40 years. He was also formerly an RCMP officer, an immigration officer, and an investigator for the Alberta provincial ombudsperson. He is currently a farmer in the Cowichan Valley.

Priorities: Rural healthcare, more housing options, sovereignty and opposing Trumpism, transportation, environmental action including small and locally, supporting the CBC, military funding, regulations on AI, partnering with Indigenous projects, reliable transportation, marine / coastal stewardship

[Candidate page] [Campaign Facebook]

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Kathleen Code – Green (6%, 20%, 16%)

Code worked for the province for 20+ years in economic development policy and currently chairs the Ecoforestry Institute Society, which handles the stewardship of the Wildwood Ecoforest near Ladysmith. She also organized some of the legal defence for the Fairy Creek protests and is the Greens' critic on forest issues.

Priorities: Addressing climate / emissions / pollution, protecting forests, increasing Canadian self-reliance incl. int'l co-operation and domestic capacity, building out clean energy infrastructure and resource reserves, funding affordable public housing & housing co-ops, taxing big corporations, caring for people with addictions

[Candidate page] [Party riding assoc. Facebook]

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Dagmar Groeschick – PPC (6%, 1%, N/A)

Groeschick, originally from Germany, lives in Cobble Hill, is a former store manager and a cleaning business entrepreneur as well as a publicist. She says she joined the PPC in line with the goals of "minimizing government interference, encouraging individual accountability, guaranteeing equity for all Canadians, and upholding individual liberties and rights."

[Candidate page]

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Details on this year’s federal election

There are four major parties fielding candidates in BC in the upcoming federal election: the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, the NDP, and the Green Party of Canada. There are also other smaller parties and independent candidates. You can find basic information about each party and their platform at the bottom of this page, or by using the links below.

Liberal Party of Canada | Conservative Party of Canada | NDP | Green Party of Canada | Rhinoceros Party of Canada | People’s Party of Canada | Christian Heritage Party of Canada | Communist Party of Canada

How to Vote

Federal election advance voting on April 18-21, in person, or by mail before April 22.

Where to vote

Unlike the BC provincial election, you must submit your ballot at your designated polling station.

If you register in advance, you will receive a voter information card with your designated polling station in the mail.

You can also look up your designated polling station online by searching your postal code on the Elections Canada page for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

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