From a clown to the incumbent to a former cabinet minister, the race for Victoria’s top elected position is about to get crowded.

Former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Ida Chong is expected to make official on Thursday her plans to challenge Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin.

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Media have been asked to the Steamship Bar and Grill Thursday morning where Chong, according to the invitation, will “make a very special announcement about the future of Victoria.”

Fortin, seeking his third term as mayor, welcomed Chong into the race, saying that it means voters will have a clear choice. “I look forward to comparing my record as mayor with her record as a Gordon Campbell cabinet minister,” he said.

Coun. Lisa Helps, who launched her campaign Tuesday in front of about 50 supporters in a former parking lot converted into a public square known as the Fort Common, said Chong’s entry into the contest will make it more interesting.

“What’s going to distinguish our campaign is that we’ve got a vision and we also have a concrete action plan,” said Helps, who had announced in early January her intention to challenge Fortin in the Nov. 15 election. “So I’m really curious to see, as the campaign unfolds with Dean and Ida, what their plan is about and how they are going to implement it. I think that’s what’s going to distinguish who will win this election.”

Chong has acknowledged being wooed as a candidate but has consistently said she is undecided about entering the race. She did not return a phone call for comment by deadline Tuesday.

Some observers speculate that Chong’s candidacy will galvanize Fortin’s support, leaving Helps out in the cold.

“Ida entering the race will mobilize the NDP,” said retiring Coun. Shellie Gudgeon. “In that respect, it’s very unfortunate because municipal politics should not be about provincial party political lines. What the city needs is independent people running for the betterment of their communities.”

Michael Prince, Lansdowne professor of social policy at UVic agreed, that Chong’s entry into the race will hurt Helps.

“If they’re smart on the NDP side, they won’t underestimate Ida Chong … they’ll appreciate who is behind her and there is money and organization,” Prince said. “She’s perhaps not the most formidable candidate the centre-right could have put up or the business community could have backed, but there you go,” Prince said.

Helps is anything but convinced a Chong candidacy will work in Fortin’s favour. “I’m not so certain that every New Democrat within shouting distance would cast a vote for Dean,” Helps said.

Helps said her plan, if elected, “is to create a city of opportunities.”

“Fifty per cent of people in this town right now make $27,000 or less per year. So we can accept that or we can say: ‘What can city hall do? What role can city hall play in creating opportunities?’ ” she said. Helps said the city “has a huge role to play” in providing opportunities for startups.

Also among her priorities is “repairing relationships.”

“Victoria is the capital city of the province of British Columbia and we need to play a leadership role. We need to repair our relationship with the provincial government. We need to repair and build our relationships with other municipalities and we need to repair and rebuild our relationship with the public,” Helps said.

A Saanich resident, Chong lost her Oak Bay-Gordon Head seat in the last election to Andrew Weaver of the B.C. Green Party.

First elected to the legislature 1996, she served 17 years and held a number of cabinet posts including aboriginal relations, advanced education, and community, sport and cultural development.

Chong served on Saanich council from 1993 to 1996.

Changes the Clown, a.k.a. Rob Duncan, has planned a media event Sunday at 1 p.m. to announce his candidacy for Victoria mayor. Changes the Clown is part of Clowns Against Child Poverty — a public awareness campaign dedicated to “talking about the unacknowledged and unaddressed crisis of child poverty in our community.”

bcleverley@timescolonist.com