Alan Lowe

Infobox Mayor


honorific-prefix= His Worship
name = Alan Lowe
caption =
order = Mayor of Victoria, British Columbia
term_start = November 20, 1999
term_end =
predecessor = Robert Cross
successor =
birth_date = July 26, 1961
birth_place = Victoria, British Columbia
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =
party =
alma_mater = University of Manitoba
spouse =
profession =
religion =


footnotes =

Alan Lowe (born July 26, 1961 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian politician. He is the mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, and was elected to this position in 1999.

As a Mayor of Victoria, he is assigned to a position on the Order of precedence in British Columbia, ranking at 24, before the Mayor of Vancouver.

In 1982 Lowe earned a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Manitoba, and in 1985 he earned a Master's Degree in Architecture from the University of Oregon.

He is one of only a handful of mayors of Victoria who were actually born and raised in the city, and was the first mayor of Asian heritage to be elected. He is a member of the Hook Sin Tong and so considered a member of Zhongshan City, Guangdong.Fact|date=August 2007 At 38 years old he was also one of the youngest candidates ever to win the mayoral election.

In 1999 Alan Lowe managed to win a hard fought three way race versus Bob Friedland of the Victoria Civic Electors on the left and veteran right wing councilor Geoff Young. His campaign slogan was "Aim High, Vote Lowe", which highlighted his sense of humor and charm.

1999 Election Results
* Alan LOWE 7,080 43.59%
* Bob FRIEDLAND 5,626 34.64%
* Geoff YOUNG 3,076 18.94%

The accepted opinion in the next election was that Lowe was unassailable and therefore no serious candidates chose to challenge him. He handily won the 2002 election (61.65% of the popular vote) against a number of opponents, including his closest contender, Ben Isitt, then a 24-year-old master's student at the University of Victoria.

Lowe's second term in office included the completion of a new multi-purpose facility Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, which has seen over 500,000 visitors since it opened in 2005. Originally promised by his predecessor Bob Cross, there have been some doubts expressed by one local media outlet, namely the editorial board of a weekly publication Monday Magazine. During construction on the arena, there was some controversy related to the fact that the project was a partnership with a private sector contractor, in addition to some construction delays.

Alan Lowe won re-election in the 2005 elections. He faced Ben Isitt again, and defeated him by 1,400 votes.

The December 5, 2007 edition of the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper ran a front page story on Mayor Lowe. Lowe stated that he would like to spend more time with his family, friends, other interests and will not seek re-election after his current term expires. He has served on Victoria City Council for 15 years as a Councilor and Mayor. Mayor Lowe remains quiet about any possible transition to BC Provincial or Canada Federal politics. The mayor has been considered, by some factions, for higher level political endeavors.Fact|date=December 2007 One past rumour had Alan Lowe being considered by some members of the Liberal Party of Canada as a candidate and potential cabinet minister of the Canada Federal Government.Fact|date=December 2007 It was speculated that Mayor Lowe may replace former Federal Minister David Anderson when he retired from Canada Federal politics.Fact|date=December 2007

succession box
title=Order of precedence in British Columbia
years=as of 2007
before=Heads of Consular Posts
after=Sam Sullivan, Mayor of Vancouver
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ee also

List of mayors of Victoria, British Columbia