ELECTION 2015 CO-Similkameen-Nicola: Scott: 'I was under no pretense when I signed on to do this'

Image Credit: Compilation/Jennifer Stahn

Republished October 19, 2015 - 8:23 PM

Original Publication Date October 19, 2015 - 7:05 PM

WEST KELOWNA - Conservative Party of Canada candidate Dan Albas was a clear winner in 2011 with 54 per cent of the 53,359 voters in the riding made famous by former party leader Stockwell Day.

But will the changes in the boundary realignment make a difference?

The Okanagan-Coquihalla riding looks significantly different since boundaries changed in 2012. Gone from the Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding is Albas’s home town of Penticton. In its place, a chunk of downtown Kelowna joins West Kelowna, Summerland, Merritt, Peachland, Logan Lake, Westbank First Nation and electoral areas D, E and F in the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen as well as Area J in the Regional District of Central Okanagan.

The new riding has just over 104,398 people and 86,039 eligible voters.

In 2011, Albas’s greatest challenger was New Democrat David Finnis with 24 per cent of the vote. Taking the NDP mantle this year is Angelique Wood. The Liberals were a non factor in 2011 with just over 11 per cent in the old riding. Karley Scott represents the Liberals this year. Robert Mellalieu is running for the Green Party.

Contacted earlier this evening, Scott was still watching the polls where she remained roughly 1,000 votes behind with just six polls reporting, she also watched her party move into majority government territory.

"Justin has just been declared prime minister. This is amazing. It’s what we’ve all been working for. We have over the past several months across Canada knocked on and phoned 11 million Canadians," she said. "I was under no pretense when I signed on to do this. I knew this has been a conservative stronghold for 47 years… I knew what I was walking into. We worked hard for many months, our team is amazing… and we left it all on the field."