Image Credit: bcliberals.com
October 24, 2020 - 9:41 PM
B.C. Liberal incumbent Ben Stewart is projected to reclaim the Kelowna West riding in the provincial election.
With 67 of 112 ballot boxes reported, Stewart has 46.74 of the vote.
Stewart was first elected MLA for Westside-Kelowna in 2009 and re-elected 2013. After giving up his seat for former premier Christy Clark, he was re-elected in a by-election in 2018.
Stewart beat out Matt Badura, Libertarian, Spring Hawes, BC NDP was second with 31.47 per cent of the vote, Magee Mitchell, Independent and Peter A Truch for the BC Green Party.
His win doesn't come as a surprise for most as the riding has historically aligned with right-of-centre politics.
Stewart previously served as Minister of Citizens' Services, Minister of Community and Rural Development, Minister of Agriculture, and as Government Whip. He served on the Special Committees on Cosmetic Pesticides and Timber
Supply, and as the Ministerial representative on Treasury Board, the Priorities and Planning, and the Legislative Review Committees.
He also has extensive experience serving the community as a board member for numerous organizations such as the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation and Okanagan College. He was also as a founding director of a venture capital fund for local business development in British Columbia.
In 1989, he founded and built Quail’s Gate into one of Canada’s leading estate wineries. Later, under his leadership as chair of VQA Canada, that organization successfully resolved a number of significant issues such as International trademark protection and international mutual recognition agreements. He is recognized as a global leader in small-lot premium wine production and a pioneer in Pinot Noir clonal research and wine-making.
In October of 2013, Stewart was appointed British Columbia’s Special Representative in Asia to act as the province’s official on-the-ground representative in Asia to further strengthen BC’s government-to-government relationships in China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia.
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