FILE PHOTO
Image Credit: Contributed
September 20, 2021 - 9:48 PM
The NDP's Richard Cannings remains the undefeated champion of the South Okanagan-West Kootenay electoral district having won all three elections since the riding was established in 2013.
With 230 of 289 polls reporting at press time, Cannings was ahead with 40.3% of the vote compared to Conservative Helena Konanz with the 35.6% — a roughly 2,000 vote lead.
All election results are preliminary, the final tally won’t be known until mail in votes are counted.
Cannings, 68, is a biologist and author.
READ MORE: Federal Election 2021: Top candidates from 2019 face off again in South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding
The merger of the South Okanagan and the West Kootenays into a single riding in 2013 brought together two cities on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Its most populated centres are the City of Penticton in the South Okanagan, and the City of Castlegar in the West Kootenays. Elections Canada announced that the two communities, located hundreds of kilometres apart, would be combined into a single riding. Penticton and Castlegar were both seen as strongholds before they had to share the same space – Penticton's former riding had a long streak of electing Conservative MPs, while Castlegar was home to NDP heavyweight Alex Atamanenko, who served for more than a decade before that riding of British Columbia Southern Interior was dissolved.
READ MORE: South Okanagan-West Kootenay candidates clarify positions during heated debate
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dan Walton or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021