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As election day approaches, candidates in Kelowna-Mission and Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream are making their final pitches to voters, with public safety, health care, affordability and jobs as the top issues.
In Kelowna-Mission, Conservative candidate Gavin Dew hopes to stay in the Conservative Party’s hands, pointing to health care and public safety as priorities.
“Conservatives are very committed to opening up 33,000 square feet of space at Kelowna General Hospital,” Dew said. “We are very committed to mandatory treatment at the Okanagan Correctional Centre.”
Dew is running against NDP candidate Miriam Rycroft, Green candidate Saoirse MacKinnon, and OneBC’s Abraham Nordine.
BC NDP Leader David Eby said Tuesday that the Conservatives have taken the region for granted, arguing they can’t assume voters will automatically support them.
“We need to work harder in this region; we need to win every vote,” Eby said while campaigning in Kelowna.
Dew disputed that characterization and criticized the local NDP campaign.
“It’s hard for me to see the NDP working extra hard in this region when my local candidate hasn’t shown his face in Kelowna yet,” he said.
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Rycroft’s photo is not in the candidate’s biography on the NDP’s campaign website, and a drive-thru trip turned up no NDP election signs promoting his candidacy.
Ahead of the election, the regional campaign manager said Rycroft was not available for interviews.
In neighboring Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, NDP candidate Binny Boparai is hoping to make gains in an election that traditionally favors the Conservative Party.
Boparai, a farmer and business owner, said he believes voters may be ready to consider another party.
“I think people are ready to give another party a chance because I’m the type of candidate who shows up and answers tough questions,” he said.
Boparai identified the cost of living and job creation as key priorities, arguing that stronger regional economic growth could help address a range of issues.
“If we have growth, economic growth in our region, it will produce good jobs and solve many other fundamental problems,” he said.
Conservative Party candidate Pavneet Singh, who is also a business owner, identified homelessness and the economy as among the issues facing him.
Singh argued that expanding natural resource development could help create jobs and strengthen the provincial economy.
“LNG will double and triple by 2035, and we have the resources. People want to work, and we have to create jobs, and the economy will be better once we do that,” Singh said.
Singh also urged voters to deny the NDP another term, saying: “British Columbia cannot afford another term for the NDP.”
Green candidate Carter Mochinski and OneBC candidate Alexandra Wright are also running in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream.
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