In 2009: NDP incumbent Katrine Conroy thumped Liberal candidate Brenda Binnie by over 8000 votes, 67-22%—the second largest margin of victory for the NDP in 2009.
History & Geography: The westernmost of the four Kootenay ridings, Kootenay West is comprised of Slocan Lake, the Arrow Lakes, Trout Lake, and the Trail-Rossland-Castlegar triangle of cities in the south of the riding. Other major towns include New Denver and Nakusp. A descendant of Rossland-Trail, this riding has voted NDP in 9 of the last 10 elections, often by large margins.
Basic Stats:
Population: 40675 (72nd)
Size: 12016 km (18th)
Density: 3.4 people/km (68th)
Odds and Ends: Just 0.9% of seniors were classified as low income in the 2005 census, the lowest number in British Columbia.
Candidates
Liberals-Jim Postnikoff: A small business owner, Postnikoff worked in the mining and foestry industries for 25 years. He now runs a family farm and runs a mini storage business.
NDP-Katrine Conroy: The Seniors and Long Term Care critic, Katrine was first elected in 2005 in the West Kootenay-Boundary district that preceded West Kootenay. Wife of Ed Conroy, who held Rossland-Trail from 1991-2011, Conroy ran a ranch before entering politics. According to her website, she was also one of BC’s first female Steam Engineers.
Independent-Glen Byle: A Trail resident, Byle is running on a platform of “Technology Enabled true Democracy”, where policies are crowdsourced via the internet.
Independent-Joseph Hughes: A small business owner, Hughes has sat on the Naksup village council since 2009. He has a diploma in marketing management.
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