Balance on the Ballot

I have lived mostly in Greater Victoria since late 1996 arriving on the day of the 1996 Blizzard, I was nearly 18 when I moved here with not much more than a suitcase and acceptance to the University of Victoria. I have truly grown up here - putting myself through university with a combination of small scholarships, student loans, minimum wage jobs and work on campus during undergraduate school and beginning my career and juggling work and studies during my Masters. During my undergraduate university years I worked behind the counter at the Uptown Tim Horton's, I worked as the hostess at Japanese Village, I worked as the copy-editor for the Martlet, and I worked as a telephone surveyor for R.A. Malatest and Associates. During those university years I rented: a room in a family home in Gordon Head, a small bachelor apartment in the Glanford area, a room in a 4 bedroom basement suite with 3 other room mates in Gordon Head, and a two-bedroom suite in a houseplex in Esquimalt shared wi