In Oliver, Martin Johansen unseated incumbent Ronald Hovanes as mayor. Johansen captured 879 votes, or approximately 41.5 per cent of the vote. Hovanes had 719 votes, or 33.9 per cent, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC.
Earning seats on council were Veintimilla Petra, David Mattes, Lawrence Schwartzenberger, Aimee Grice, Parminder Sidhu and Rick Machial.
Below is the full list of mayoral and councillor candidates.
Candidates
Mayor:
Ronald Hovanes (incumbent)
Martin Johansen
Council:
Grice Aimee
Mattes David (incumbent)
Maureen Doerr (incumbent)
Dermott Hutton
David Machial
Rick Machial (incumbent)
Andre Miller (incumbent)
Veintimilla Petra (incumbent)
Lawrence Schwartzenberger (incumbent)
Parmar Sidhu
Council
Oliver voters will cast their ballot to elect one mayor and four councillors, plus two water councillors.
Boundary
Oliver is a town in the Okanagan Valley located about 20 kilometres north of Osoyoos.
Population (2016)
4,928
History
Okanagan peoples lived in the area where Oliver sits today for thousands of years before European settlement happened.
Fur traders would roam the region starting in the early 19th century but settlement started in earnest in the 1860s amid the Cariboo gold rush.
Cattle farmers bringing their herds to mining camps saw a potential home for their livestock on the abundant grass of the Okanagan Valley.
Communities sprang up near Oliver with mining activity but they later declined, and many of their buildings were moved to Oliver.
The Southern Okanagan Lands Project brought more settlement to Oliver in the form of veterans coming back from the First World War.
That project would see an irrigation canal built for 37 kilometres, and Oliver would be its centre.
Oliver was named after John Oliver, the B.C. premier who was a strong proponent of the canal project.
Today, Oliver is known for its wine, so much that it’s been called the “Capital of Wine Country.”
The Osoyoos Indian Band, which owns Nk’Mip Cellars, is located there, and is a force in economic development.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$91,307/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) for RCMP, South Okanagan/Oliver, rural — 2016/B.C.
94.13 (-21.82)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (VCSI) for RCMP, South Okanagan/Oliver, rural — 2016/B.C.
39.19 (-34.17)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Richard Cannings (NDP)
Provincial
Linda Larson (BC Liberal)
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