Chief Electoral Officer Angie Collison announces the results of Saturday's byelection at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.

Image Credit: Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative

While Jason Reynen was feeling a little under the weather Saturday night, he was jumping for joy with his wife and children at home after winning a landslide victory in the byelection for Penticton city council.

Reynen, the proud owner of Penticton's Performance Auto Care and Exhaust (PACE), came close to becoming Penticton's leader during the 2022 municipal election as he finished less than 200 votes behind Julius Bloomfield in the mayoralty race.

That made him a strong favourite heading into the byelection, which was called after former councillor Amelia Boultbee announced last summer she was taking a leave of absence to run for the B.C. Conservative Party in the provincial riding of Penticton-Summerland.

Preliminary results from Saturday's by-election showed Reynen winning in a landslide with 1,839 votes, more than 1,000 ahead of runner-up Juliana Buitenhuis, who finished with 783 votes. Nick Stulberg was third with 285 votes, while youngster Riley Thompson, 23, finished a respectable fourth place with 262 votes.

Aaron Baisarowicz finished in fifth place with 168 votes, while Bradley Bartsch was sixth with 129 votes and Ankit Sachdeva finished in seventh place with 80 votes.

Reynen had 359 votes in the first of two advance voting opportunities and another 385 votes in the second and final voting day.

Reynen captured 50.2 of the entire vote, while Buitenhuis had 21.3 per cent. Stulberg captured 10.8 per cent of the vote, whlie Thompson had 7.1 per cent.

Contacted at his West Kelowna home Saturday evening, Reynen said he was battling a cold and wanted to spend the victory celebration with his wife and children no matter what happened.

He was thrilled to being voted in as the newest member of Penticton council.

"It's pretty cool man," said an obviously pleased Reynen moments after the results were announced. "I had an expectation set out for myself. I definitely put in a lot of effort into this and I did feel like we were in a good position, but like I've said many times before, I'm never going to count my chickens before they've hatched."

Reynen said he joined the mayoral race "real late"in 2022  and that's, in his opinion, why he fell short.

"This time I kind of knew I would be gunning for a seat soon after Amelia announced she was going to run for MLA, so I knew it was a strong possibility I would be running again, so I started prepping early and I felt really confident about that," he said.

While he had never run for political office before 2022, Reynen said he enjoyed everything about the experience more than two years ago and it was even better during the byelection campaign over the past couple of months.

"To be honest with you, it's funny, you start this journey and you think what am I doing," he said. "Then you know the people really make the difference. The more the people came out and supported me, the more constructive conversations we had, the more things kind of developed, the better I felt.

"I really looked forward to having those conversations and listening to what was important to the citizens out there."

The same issues that prompted him to run for mayor are the same issues he focused on during this campaign, said Reynen.

"I think everybody is feeling the same issues that we felt two years ago," he said. "The crime, the drugs, the same things. I think one of the big things too is everybody is feeling it financially a little bit more.

"This time, more people are in more dire needs. I think there are more people on the curb of feeling there is no hope. We're right on the bridge of a federal election. I feel like that all weighed in quite a bit. I know I was leaning towards matters of fiscal responsibility as well."

Reynen admitted he was nervous sitting in front of his computer waiting for election results just after the polls closed at 8 p.m.  at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.

"You get nervous because you just don't know what's going to happen," he said.

Buitenhuis ran a very solid campaign, she has political experience in the Lower Mainland  and has a bright future if she decided to run for council again, he said.

"She has all the qualities you would want in a councillor, so I'm not surprised she finished as well as she did," he said. "She's just a really good person and has a really good understanding of the people and I think she would be a great councillor, especially if another spot opens up here in the near future."

Reynen said he wouldn't be where he is without the support of his family and friends.

"I thank them for their patience and their love," he said. "Also, I thank everybody and anybody who backed me and believed in me and gave me a few minutes of their time. It’s really their win as well. It has been really cool to come out on top of this one. We're pretty excited and going to celebrate a little tonight.”

Reynen said his affiliation as one of the founders of Clean Streets Penticton, the Facebook page that has members posting photos and information relating to local crime, certainly didn't hurt his profile in running for public office.

He has since stepped back from the organization to concentrate on running his successful garage business.

"I've been known as a part of Clean Streets from the very get go," he said. "I think it does a really good job in what's it's set up to do. I think this is the separation for me. This is my time to sit down and be apart from them, while being able to hear the voices from that group as well, which is advantageous.

"You can still have your ear to the pavement and have a concept of what people are really feeling and what we do need to work on."

Reynen said he will have ample time to devote to his new position on council.

He has a great team at PACE "who do a brilliant job running the business... I feel this is the right thing for me. I've always been committed to this city with my heart and soul for as long as I know. I love all the people and I love what this city has been and always will be for me."

Buitenhuis, her husband and several friends were in attendance at the PTCC to get final results.

While disappointed at not winning, she said she was very proud to finish a strong second and plans on running for a position on council in the 2026 municipal election.

"I'm happy people came out to vote in this byelection. I think that shows people in this city are civically engaged," she said, "I'm just excited to have been part of this election and finishing second was a pleasant surprise.

"I hope to be back and plan on running again in 2026. I love the process and I love going around and speaking to people about local issues. It's super exciting to knock on doors and talk to people about politics and what matters to them. I will be running for sure in 2026 and if there's another byelection before then, I will be running."

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald

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