Steve Thomson (politician)

Steve Thomson (born 1951 or 1952) is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election, representing the riding of Kelowna-Mission.[1][2] Thomson was re-elected in 2013 and 2017 and elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on June 22, 2017. He had previously served as Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations since 2011.[3] Thomson resigned as Speaker on June 29, 2017, after less than a week in office, immediately following the defeat of the minority Liberal government of Christy Clark on a confidence vote.[4]

Steve Thomson
38th Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
In office June 22 – June 29, 2017
Premier	Christy Clark
Lieutenant Governor	Judith Guichon
Preceded by	Linda Reid
Succeeded by	Darryl Plecas
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Kelowna-Mission
In office May 12, 2009 – September 21, 2020
Preceded by	Sindi Hawkins
Succeeded by	Renee Merrifield
Personal details
Born	1951/1952 (age 68–69)
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Thomson joined the cabinet in 2009 as Minister of Agriculture and Lands and has also served as Minister of Natural Resource Operations, Minister of Energy, as chair to the Environment and Land Use Committee and as a member of the Treasury Board.

Prior to entering politics, he was executive director of the BC Agriculture Council, general manager of the BC Fruit Growers Association and the BC Milk Producers Association, as well as director of the Kelowna Museum, the Okanagan Innovation Fund, and the BC BioEnergy Network.

Electoral record

2017 British Columbia general election: Kelowna-Mission
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Steve Thomson	15,041	57.18	+0.32	$53,316
	New Democratic	Harwinder Sandhu	5,720	21.24	−4.6	$13,757
	Green	Rainer Wilkins	3,836	14.24	–	$18
	Conservative	Charles Hardy	1,976	7.34	−5.33	$8,095
Total valid votes			26,933	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			112	0.42	−0.24
Turnout			27,045	57.67	+4.09
Registered voters			46,898
Source: Elections BC[5][6]

2013 British Columbia general election: Kelowna-Mission
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Steve Thomson	13,687	56.86	+2.96	$78,163
	New Democratic	Tish Lakes	6,221	25.84	−0.23	$28,693
	Conservative	Mike McLoughlin	3,051	12.67	+0.81	$30,353
	No Affiliation	Dayleen Van Ryswyk	1,113	4.62	–	$12,350
Total valid votes			24,072	100.00
Total rejected ballots			161	0.66
Turnout			24,233	53.58
Source: Elections BC[7]

References

1. Name: Steve Thomson Anonymous. Kelowna Capital News [Kelowna, B.C] 23 Apr 2009: 4.
2. Waters, Alistair. "Stewart loses cabinet ministry posting". Kelowna Capital News. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
3. Shaw, Rob. "B.C. legislature resumes, MLAs elect Liberal Steve Thomson as Speaker". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
4. https://www.straight.com/news/931347/steve-thomson-resigns-speaker-bc-legislature
5. "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
6. "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
7. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

External links

• Constituency office
• MLA page at B.C. Legislative Assembly