NDP Dick Cannings re-elected in South Okanagan-West Kootenay
By Boundary Sentinel
Richard Cannings is heading back to Ottawa to represent the riding in the South Okanagan-West Kootenay.
In an election that mirrored one in 2019, the NDP candidate defeated Helena Konanz of the Conservative Party for the second consecutive time by more than 3,600 (24,759 total) votes.
The South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding, which includes Castlegar, the Slocan Valley and Trail), has five candidates running for the South Okanagan-West Kootenay seat.
Liberal candidate Ken Robertson was third (7,402), while People’s Party of Canada candidate Sean Taylor took 4,646 votes.
Of the 98,589 eligible voters, 58.84 per cent of them turned out, down from 73.57 per cent in 2019.
Cannings, first elected to Parliament in 2015 as a member of the New Democratic Party, will join NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in Ottawa.
The NDP leader, which increased his total in Ottawa to 25 seats from 2019, won his Burnaby South riding Monday.
Conservative Morrison returns to Ottawa in Kootenay-Columbia
The Kootenay-Columbia riding — which includes Nelson, Revelstoke and Cranbrook — returned Rob Morrison to Parliament, again defeating one-time MP Wayne Stetski in 2021.
In 2015 Stetski rode an NDP orange wave across Canada and won the seat over Conservative candidate David Wilks.
The race was close for several hours after polls closed, but Morrison pulled away as the last few ballots came in. With most of the polls reporting, Morrison holds a substantial lead of more tha 4,600 votes — 26,813 to 22,140.
Of the 91,652 eligible voters, 61,150 people cast a vote for a turnout of 64.02 per cent in the Kootenay-Columbia riding, down from 73.79 per cent in 2019.
The surprise was the strength of People’s Party of Canada candidate Sarah Bennett’s showing, gathering 4,316 votes, just behind Liberal candidate Robin Goldsbury’s 5,474 votes.
The Green Party’s Rana Nelson rounded out the ballot list at 2,407.
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