Kelowna West

Kelowna West, formerly Westside-Kelowna, is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008. It was first contested in the 2009 general election. The riding was created out of parts of Okanagan-Westside, Kelowna-Lake Country and Kelowna-Mission. It was renamed Kelowna West in the 2015 electoral redistribution with only minor boundary changes.

Kelowna West

British Columbia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	Ben Stewart Liberal
District created	2008
First contested	2009
Last contested	2020
Demographics
Population (2006)	51,958
Electors (2013)	44,830
Area (km²)	1,139.78
Pop. density (per km²)	45.6
Census division(s)	Regional District of Central Okanagan
Census subdivision(s)	Central Okanagan J, Kelowna, Tsinstikeptum 9, Tsinstikeptum 10, West Kelowna

Just weeks after the 2013 British Columbia election, newly re-elected MLA Ben Stewart resigned to allow Premier Christy Clark, who had lost her own seat, to run in a by-election.[1]

Clark resigned the seat and leadership of the BC Liberals effective August 4, 2017, after losing a confidence vote. A by-election for the seat was held on February 14, 2018.[2]

Geography

The riding contains the city of West Kelowna, all of the Regional District of Central Okanagan west of Lake Okanagan and north of Peachland and the central part of the city of Kelowna.[3]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Westside-Kelowna
39th	2009–2013		Ben Stewart	Liberal
40th	2013
	2013–2017		Christy Clark
Kelowna West
41st	2017		Christy Clark	Liberal
	2018 – August 2019		Ben Stewart
	August–October 2019[4]			Independent
	October 2019 – 2020			Liberal
42nd	November 2020–present

Electoral history

Kelowna West

2020 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ben Stewart	12,991	49.89	−6.39	$25,167.49
	New Democratic	Spring Hawes	8,854	34.00	+10.49	$3,285.58
	Green	Peter Truch	3,274	12.57	−0.10	$3,191.00
	Libertarian	Matt Badura	474	1.82	+1.01	$0.00
	Independent	Magee Mitchell	446	1.71	–	$472.20
Total valid votes			26,039	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC[5][6]

British Columbia provincial by-election, February 14, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ben Stewart	8,406	56.28	−2.77	$87,790
	New Democratic	Shelley Cook	3,511	23.51	−1.63	$49,337
	Green	Robert Stupka	1,893	12.67	−1.00	$54,984
	Conservative	Mark Thompson	1,006	6.73	–	$6,419
	Libertarian	Kyle Michael Ernest Geronazzo	121	0.81	–	$250
Total valid votes			14,937	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			35	0.23	+0.07
Turnout			14,972	31.55	−9.29
Registered voters			47,461
	Liberal hold		Swing		−0.57
Source: Elections BC[7]

2017 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Christy Clark	15,674	58.98	+0.98	$80,880
	New Democratic	Shelley Cook	6,712	25.25	−5.71	$26,274
	Green	Robert Mellalieu	3,628	13.65	–	$1,399
	Independent	Brian Thiesen	570	2.14	–	$2,045
Total valid votes			26,584	100.0	–
Total rejected ballots			128	0.48	+0.32
Turnout			26,712	55.46	+14.62
Registered voters			48,162
	Liberal hold		Swing		+3.34
Source: Elections BC[8]

Westside-Kelowna

British Columbia provincial by-election, July 10, 2013: Westside-Kelowna
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Christy Clark	11,758	62.66	+4.58	$56,758
	New Democratic	Carole Gordon	5,563	29.64	−1.20	$38,827
	Conservative	Sean Upshaw	1,115	5.94	−5.14	$9,755
	Independent	Dayleen Van Ryswyk	134	0.71	–	$373
	Independent	John Marks	74	0.39	–	$250
	Independent	Silverado Brooks Socrates	46	0.25	–	$250
	Vision	JB Bhandari	45	0.24	–	$2,261
	Independent	Korry Zepik	31	0.17	–	$440
Total valid votes			18,766	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			31	0.16	−0.80
Turnout			18,797	40.84	−6.68
Registered voters			46,021
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.89
Source: Elections BC[9][10]

2013 British Columbia general election: Westside-Kelowna
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ben Stewart	12,405	58.07	+4.75	$74,230
	New Democratic	Carole Gordon	6,588	30.84	+1.66	$37,807
	Conservative	Brian Guillou	2,368	11.09	-1.94	$4,295
Total valid votes			21,361	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			209	0.97	+0.42
Turnout			21,570	47.52	+0.15
Registered voters			45,389
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.55
Source: Elections BC[11]

2009 British Columbia general election: Westside-Kelowna
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ben Stewart	10,334	53.33	$95,251
	New Democratic	Tish Lakes	5,656	29.19	$26,122
	Conservative	Peter Neville	1,772	9.14	$9,705
	Green	Robin McKim	1,617	8.34	$1,075
Total valid votes			19,379	99.45
Total rejected ballots			107	0.55
Turnout			19,486	47.35
Registerd voters			41,155

References

1. "Ben Stewart steps aside in Kelowna for B.C. Premier Christy Clark". Vancouver Sun, June 5, 2013.
2. http://elections.bc.ca/voting/klw-byelection
3. "Kelowna West Electoral District" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
4. "BC Liberal MLA Ben Stewart returning to caucus after being cleared by Elections BC". Global News. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
5. "2020 Provincial General Election Final Voting Results". electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
6. "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
7. "Report of the Chief Electoral Officer: 2018 Kelowna West By-election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
8. "Statement of Votes – 41st Provincial General Election – May 9, 2017" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
9. "2013 Westside-Kelowna by-election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
10. "FRPC". contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
11. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

• "Westside-Kelowna Statement of Votes: 39th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved November 20, 2010.