Conservative candidate Tracy Gray, Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr, and NDP candidate Trevor McAleese.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
April 26, 2025 - 4:00 AM
Election day is fast approaching and the newly drawn Kelowna electoral district is a toss up.
Kelowna-Lake Country’s Conservative incumbent Tracy Gray is in a rematch against Liberal Stephen Fuhr who held Gray’s seat before her.
338 Canada’s latest poll has the riding leaning slightly towards Gray with 47 per cent voter support and Fuhr just behind at 46 per cent, so Kelowna will be a riding to watch on election day Monday, April 28.
Central Okanagan has historically been Conservative blue. There have only been two cases when Liberals have taken Kelowna, the first was back in 1968 when Liberal MP Bruce Howard won, and the second was Fuhr’s victory in 2015.
Currently Gray is one of 119 Conservative MPs sitting opposite 152 Liberals, 24 NDP, 33 Bloc Québécois, three Independents and two Greens.
The current layout of the House of Commons heading into the 2025 election.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
New boundaries
The new Kelowna riding has been cut out of the old electoral districts Kelowna-Lake Country and part of South Okanagan-West Kootenay.
The southern border of the riding starts at the William R. Bennett Bridge along Harvey Avenue, south on Ellis Street to Casorso Road, then north again along Mission Creek to Hydraulic Lake Road and McCulloch Road. It encompasses a large area of the Regional District of Kootenay to the southeast including Big White and Beaverdell.
The northern border of the district starts up near McKinley Beach then goes east past Highway 97 and then south to Highway 33 where it heads east to surround that portion of Kootenay.
Kelowna electoral district for the federal election on April 28, 2025.
Image Credit: Elections Canada
READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Federal electoral district changes in Kamloops, Okanagan
Candidates
Kelowna candidates attended the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce all-candidates forum to answer questions about a range of election issues.
Conservative Tracy Gray
She was first elected to represent Kelowna-Lake Country in 2019 and she was re-elected in 2021. Gray is the shadow minister for employment, future workforce development and disability inclusion. Gray also served on Kelowna city council prior to running federally. Before getting into politics Gray worked in the liquor industry. She founded and owned Discover Wines VQA Wine Stores.
“I've had the privilege of holding four different shadow ministry roles, all on the economic side. And also most recently was vice chair of the Human Resources Committee. And during my time, there's been a number of funding that has come through Kelowna, approximately $160 million,” she said at the all-candidates forum. “What I hear the most about from residents when I'm out door knocking and I door knock year round is that there's a couple of items that I hear the most, affordability, crime, and mental health and addiction.”
Liberal Stephen Fuhr
He had a historic victory in 2015 when he flipped Kelowna-Lake Country after decades as a Conservative stronghold. He lost to Gray in 2019 but he’s back in the spotlight for a rematch. Fuhr was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Armed Forces until 2009 and currently works in aviation as a Transport Canada pilot examiner and aviation consultant.
“They say this every election, this is the most consequential election that we face. I think this actually might be the time that that's true. It's an all hands on deck moment for the country right now,” he said at the forum. “The ballot question that I'm hearing on the doorstep every single day at the top of the ticket is who is best positioned to lead us through the situation with the United States.”
NDP Trevor McAleese
McAleese grew up in the Okanagan and has spent most of his professional life in the business and tech space as a video game developer and educator teaching kids about technology.
“I grew up here, I've studied here, and I've built a career here using the skills that I gained as a graduate of the Okanagan School of Business. Now, I've had the privilege of working in many of the key industries that this community is built on,” McAleese said at the all-candidates forum. “I think that Kelowna has an amazing opportunity to become a hub for entertainment media production. And we can do so much more with our agriculture in this city.”
Green Catriona Wright
Wright has been volunteering with the party since 2015. She is from Calgary and ran for the Green Party of Alberta in Calgary-South East. Wright was not at the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce all-candidates forum.
Demographics
The electoral district has about 105,736 people over 2,670 square kilometres. The average income is $50,800 and the average age is 44.
Kelowna hasn’t always been known for diversity and multiculturalism but in 2016 the Kelowna metropolitan census area had a visible minority population of 14,935, and in 2021 that number rose to 24,435.
The most popular language aside from English is Punjabi with 1,975 speakers.
Kelowna’s population is more engaged than the average with Elections Canada predicting the voter turnout will be about 62 per cent. In the recent B.C. election the voter turnout was 56 per cent in Kelowna Centre, 58 per cent in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, and 60 per cent in Kelowna-Mission.
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