Who Runs This City? Arthur’s website

A book about Victoria’s future

Who runs
this city?

Soft Corruption, Broken Process and the Fight for Victoria’s Future

A documented look at the decisions made in Victoria’s City Hall—and what they mean for the people who call this city home.

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By Dr. Arthur McInnis Capital Park Press

Cover of Who Runs This City? by Dr. Arthur McInnis, showing the author and Victoria’s harbour

First edition 2026

Victoria, British Columbia Capital Park Press First edition, 2026

01 / The book

A closer look at how Victoria is governed.

What happens when public process looks open, but the decisions that shape a city feel settled before residents are heard?

Beginning with the E&N Roundhouse and the Bayview rezoning, Who Runs This City? follows the records behind Victoria’s planning, spending, heritage, public safety, and civic decision-making. Dr. Arthur McInnis draws on council minutes, staff reports, budgets, public hearings, and an extensive archive of source documents.

The result is a case for clearer rules, more meaningful public participation, and a City Hall that can explain its choices to the people who live with them.

Inside the pages

01

Planning & heritage

How plans, rezonings, and heritage commitments shape the city taking form around us.

02

Money & influence

A close look at civic spending, political relationships, and the incentives within the process.

03

The public’s voice

What public hearings and consultation should mean when consequential decisions are made.

Victoria, in focus

The places behind the story.

From City Hall to the Roundhouse and the waterfront, these are some of the places readers encounter in the book. The photographs show them in earlier years.

The red brick Victoria City Hall building and its clock tower
01 / Downtown · 2018Victoria City Hall
Photo: Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0 · resized and cropped for display
The E&N Railway turntable and brick Roundhouse buildings in Victoria West
02 / Victoria West · 2013The E&N Roundhouse
Photo: SoftwareSimian · CC BY-SA 4.0 · resized and cropped for display
Colourful floating buildings and boats at Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria
03 / Waterfront · 2018Fisherman’s Wharf
Photo: dronepicr · CC BY 2.0 · resized and cropped for display

Almost nothing described in these pages is illegal. That is the point of the book.

From “A Note on Sources and Method”
Victoria, BC 2026

02 / The author

Dr. Arthur
McInnis

Law professor, former international construction lawyer, and Victoria resident.

Arthur has spent decades working with complex projects and public decisions. After examining the Bayview rezoning in his own community, he began building a record of how Victoria makes its most consequential choices. This book brings that work together for readers who want to understand the process—and take part in the city’s future.

Visit Arthur’s City Council website

This book was written and published independently of Arthur’s City Council campaign.

03 / Get the book

Read the story.
Join the conversation.

Order the book on Amazon, and check back for details on a limited physical run.

01Available now

Available on Amazon

Order Who Runs This City? through Amazon.ca.

Buy on Amazon
02Planned

Limited physical run

A limited physical book run is planned for a later date. Details will be shared here when confirmed.

More details to come