Candidates for Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna Conservative Dan Albas, Liberal Juliette Sicotte and NDP Harpreet Badohal.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
April 26, 2025 - 12:00 PM
The election is just around the corner and since the electoral districts have been redrawn folks on both sides of the lake will find themselves voting in the new riding Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna.
The latest poll from 338 Canada shows a strong lead for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola incumbent Conservative Dan Albas. Albas is ahead at 47 per cent with Liberal Juliette Sicotte behind at 41 per cent.
Albas won by a significant margin in 2021 with 47 per cent of the votes, and the runner up NDP Joan Phillip had 21 per cent.
New boundaries
This new electoral district has been carved out of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola and part of Kelowna-Lake Country.
It encompasses West Kelowna, north on Westside Road to Cinnabar Creek, and south to Summerland. It also includes part of Kelowna, south of Harvey Avenue, west of Ethel Street and south of Casorso Road. The riding border extends Mission Creek, Hydraulic Lake Road and McCulloch Road to include the southern part of the east Central Okanagan.
Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna riding for the 2025 federal election.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
Candidates
Candidates from the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP were at the Greater Westside Board of Trade all-candidates forum to answer questions about this election’s most pressing topics.
Conservative Dan Albas
Albas has been the MP for the area for 14 years. He was first was elected in Okanagan-Coquihalla in 2011, then three times in a row in the now defunct riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola in 2015, 2019 and 2021.
“Being an MP is an incredible honour and responsibility,” Albas said at the Greater Westside Board of Trade’s all-candidates forum. “When I go to Ottawa, when I stand up on your behalf and make representation, I am speaking with those little golden threads that I've heard from our constituency.”
Liberal Juliette Sicotte
Sicotte grew up in Manitoba and she has since lived all around Canada from Yellowknife to Vancouver and has lived in Kelowna for 30 years. She has met entrepreneurs in a variety of industries from mining to fashion.
“I've had the privilege of calling the Okanagan home for the last 30 years. I have very deep roots here. My reason for running is simple. It's to protect Canada's sovereignty. I could not stand by and watch the decades of progress that our country has made just get swept away,” she said at the forum.
NDP Harpreet Badohal
Badohal ran for the BC NDP in the Kelowna-Mission riding in the provincial election this past fall when he was beaten by BC Conservative Gavin Dew. Now, he’s taking another run under the orange banner. Badohal spent several years as a botany professor outside of Canada but he has worked as a WorkSafeBC officer since moving to the Okanagan in 2016.
“I can tell you that if there is any difficulty in life, we have seen it all. But I feel proud of every day I have spent on this life. That's a moment I have spent every moment to make myself better and to follow the principles which were imbibed into me by my mother,” he said at the forum. “And here I am today as your candidate for the New Democratic Party. And once again, thank you. I will be getting a chance to tell you more about my party and my values.”
Green Louise Lecouffe
Lecouffe is a berry farmer and small business owner who has campaigned for other Green Party candidates in the past. She was not at the Greater Westside Board of Trade forum.
PPC Debra Robinson
Robinson has lived in the Okanagan for 12 years and joined the People’s Party of Canada in 2018. Robinson was absent from the Greater Westside Board of Trade forum.
READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Federal electoral district changes in Kamloops, Okanagan
Demographics
Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna has 106,764 people spread across 1,915 square kilometres.
The average age is 45 and the average income is $57,900. The most popular language other than English is Punjabi with 550 speakers.
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.
Elections Canada is expecting a voter turnout of 66 per cent. The voter turnout for West Kelowna-Peachland in the recent provincial election was 58 per cent when BC Conservative Macklin McCall won with 50 per cent of the vote.
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