KELOWNA – Elections Canada has added six new ridings in B.C. and that means boundaries have changed – including in the Okanagan, where local candidates say the new dividing lines are causing confusion.
“If I go to a door that is conservative, they say no, no, no, I will be voting for Ron (Cannan, Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country) and I say well, actually, you will be voting for Dan Albas (Conservative MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla) if you’re a conservative,” says Robert Mellalieu, the green candidate for the newly formed riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, where Albas is seeking re-election under different boundaries.
“And then I get into you should vote green and that kind of thing but obviously there is some confusion there.”
Known previously as Okanagan-Coquihalla, the new riding now includes a good chunk of Kelowna, including the city’s Mission area. It also includes a huge part of the southern Interior, stretching from the U.S. border to just south of Kamloops. The reconfigured riding also includes Keremeos, Princeton, Summerland, Peachland, West Kelonwa, Merritt and Logan Lake.
Albas agrees the new lines are causing confusion among constituents. But he says every ten years, Elections Canada assesses the system of representation to make sure it’s fair, and changes the lines if necessary.
Elections Canada mandates that federal riding sizes range between 105,000 to 110,000 people when possible. For Conservative Party incumbent Ron Cannan, it means his riding is shrinking.
“They have taken about 20,000 residents out of Kelowna-Lake Country riding as it is today,” says Cannan.
His riding is losing the area south of Harvey Avenue between Highway 97 and Mission Creek, adjacent to Okanagan Lake. The north and east boundaries will stay the same. While figuring out the new ridings may be a bit of a challenge, some say it’s worth it.
“The advantage for residents of Kelowna is the fact they will have two members of Parliament representing them in Ottawa and having their voices heard,” says Cannan.
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