Federal candidates for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola in 2025 shown in this compilation image. Clockwise from top left is Conservative Frank Caputo, Liberal Iain Currie, PPC Chris Enns and NDP Miguel Godau. A photo of Green Party candidate Jenna Lindley was not available.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Conservative Party, Liberal Party, New Democratic Party and People's Party of Canada.
April 26, 2025 - 4:00 AM
New electoral district boundaries drawn in Kamloops now cut the city in half. On Monday, voters will decide whether the blue streak will continue with a Conservative incumbent in the running.
Polls put incumbent MP Frank Caputo ahead in the race to represent Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola, a riding now encompassing more area but fewer voters than its predecessor. Caputo won the previous election by far and his Liberal opponent landed in third place behind the NDP, continuing the 25-year Conservative hold on Kamloops.
According to 338 Canada, the Conservative party has more than a 90 per cent chance of winning the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding.
Though the election is likely to be decided largely by its leaders, local candidates for both of the new Kamloops ridings debated recently at the Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce-hosted election forum, which can be found here.
Election day is Monday, April 28.
New boundaries
Elections Canada redrew the boundaries for what was previously called Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo ahead of the 2025 election.
As the name suggests, the Cariboo region is largely removed from Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola, cutting out 100 Mile House and much of the area north of 70 Mile House.
Much of the southeast neighbourhoods in Kamloops were placed in another riding, splitting the city into two ridings for the first time.
New additions include Merritt, Lillooet, Aschroft and Cache Creek. Still within the boundaries are Sun Peaks and communities along the Highway 5 corridor beyond Clearwater until the cutoff south of Valemount.
Covering an area of nearly 50,000 square kilometres, it's around 25 per cent larger than the previous electoral district, but it roughly 10,000 fewer people.
The shifted collection of communities included in the riding alone is unlikely to influence election results this year as all neighbouring ridings voted Conservative in 2021.
READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Federal electoral district changes in Kamloops, Okanagan
A map of the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding, which will be contested for the first time in the 2025 election.
Image Credit: ELECTIONS CANADA
Who are you?
Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola is home to nearly 112,000 as of the last census, and it's among the most thinly populated ridings in the province a two people per square kilometre.
Elections Canada projects a 64 per cent voter turnout, which would be the lowest for a Kamloops riding since 2011.
The average age among eligible voters is 45 years old, similar to the neighbouring Kamloops riding and two in Kelowna, but it's higher than the national average of 42.3. The average income among them is $49,920, according to Elections Canada.
One in every four household is a rental across the riding, according to Statistics Canada.
The vast majority of voters are English speakers. Within households, the second most common language is Punjabi with 1,180 estimated voters.
Candidates
Conservative Frank Caputo
The incumbent MP and former Crown prosecutor was elected for his first term in 2021 with 43% of the vote. Since then Frank Caputo has served as veteran's affairs critic and, more recently, deputy justice critic since 2022.
Liberal Iain Currie
Like Caputo, Iain Currie is a former Crown prosecutor and the pair worked alongside each other in the past. For the second time, they're on opposing sides aiming to win votes.
Currie jumped from the Green Party to the Liberals for the 2025 election. Asked about the move, he told iNFOnews.ca he still believed strongly in environmental values but Mark Carney is the "right" person to lead the Liberals in a time of international tension with the U.S.
NDP Miguel Godau
Castlegar resident Miguel Godau is on the ballot for the NDP. He was born and raised in Ashcroft and it's the mental health counsellor's first foray into politics, but he has experience in leadership within the BC General Employees' Union.
PPC Chris Enns
Chris Enns is a Clearwater resident who moved to Canada in 2021 amid the "COVID-related tyranny" in Australia, according to his People's Party bio. He was raised both in BC and Australia and studied university in Ontario. He currently works in the electrical industry in addition to operating a marketing firm.
Green Jenna Lindley
There is little information about Green Party candidate Jenna Lindley available online. She has no party bio, did not attend the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce election forum and it appears she has not responded to news media requests. According to her LinkedIn profile, she studied accounting at Thompson Rivers University in 2022.
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