Don’t expect David Shebib to remain in power very long if, by some outside chance, he is elected mayor.
It’s an outside shot at the mayor’s chair because he’s registering — or had plans to do so — to run in all 13 Greater Victoria municipalities.
Shebib is approaching the campaign from well outside of the mainstream and he knows it. He ran a similar campaign in 2011 in Victoria and Saanich and garnered only 161 and 173 votes, respectively. He didn’t get any campaign contributions and he didn’t report any expenses.
And like the last time, he says he’s not planning on attending any candidate forums in any jurisdiction.
Shebib, who said he’s a member of the Garden Party, said he would only stay in office for a month-and-a-half. Presumably, that would give him enough time to dismantle local governments and force citizens to live in a state of self-governance.
“I am like the government already,” he told the PNR in an interview. “I could never have any more power than I do right now.”
Shebib said too many people have vested interests in the current political system. His ideas include declaring autonomy from government — not just amalgamating the 13 municipalities into one. On amalgamation, Shebib said that just doesn’t go far enough.
“The whole process is one of delay. To go faster, one vote changes everything.
“Government is supposed to be there to serve the people, to adapt to the people and to the environment,” he said, adding he would like to see all candidates from every municipality get together in one place to talk about who they are and what they stand for.
“Then we could all see what they’re made of.”
Shebib’s Facebook page outlines his priorities, from massive gardening projects and adding colour to police uniforms, to “acceptance of the extent of municipal debt, to making crack illegal. He says he runs what is known as the Garbage Guru free store on West Saanich Road in Saanich. Shebib has ran unsuccessfully in nearly a dozen elections – municipal, provincial and federal – since the late 1970s. He was arrested during the 2011 election campaign by B.C. Sheriffs Services officers for failing to appear in court to face a $100 ticket he received for “improper use of wash down” at the Hartland landfill.
— with files from Kyle Slavin