In West Kelowna, Gord Milsom has been elected as mayor. Milsom captured 79.8 per cent of the vote with 6,050 votes, defeating his only challenger, Mary Mandarino, who garnered 1,257 votes (16.6 per cent, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC.
Earning seats on council were Stephen Johnston, Jayson Zilkie, Rick de Jong, Doug Findlater, Carol Zanon and Jason Friesen.
Below is the full list of mayoral and councillor candidates.
Candidates
Mayor:
Mary Mandarino
Gord Milsom
Council:
Philip Akins
Jerome Chung
Rick de Jong (incumbent)
Brad Dobbin
Rusty Ensign (incumbent)
Gerry Evans
Doug Findlater (current mayor)
Jason Friesen
Joe Gluska
Stephen Johnston
Rosalind Neis (incumbent)
Tiffany Pare
Winston Wammer
Gordon Wiebe
Bryden Winsby (incumbent)
Carol Zanon (incumbent)
Jayson Zilkie
School trustee:
Chantelle Desrosiers
Chris Vernon-Jarvis
Boundary
West Kelowna occupies the west bank of Okanagan Lake opposite from the City of Kelowna, and straddling Highway 97. The communities of Westbank, Glenrosa, Smith Creek, Shannon Lake, Rose Valley, Casa Loma and Lakeview Heights are all a part of West Kelowna.
Population (2016)
32,655
History
The Okanagan Valley was originally the territory of the Interior Salish people, and was settled by Europeans in the 1860s when the Hudson’s Bay Company arrived.
The Kelowna region boomed following the Second World War, partly due to a veteran resettlement program. As Kelowna grew, so too did the smaller communities on the west side of the lake.
Until 2007, they existed under rural governance, as a part of the Westside Electoral Area with three elected representatives sitting on the Regional District of Central Okanagan Board.
In a 2007 referendum, voters overwhelmingly chose to leave the electoral area, but narrowly rejected a possible amalgamation with the City of Kelowna by a vote of 5,924 to 5,582.
Initially, the community was called the Westside District Municipality, which was renamed to West Kelowna in 2009, and again in 2015 as the City of West Kelowna.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$118,579/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal/B.C.
61.96 (-15.05)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal/B.C.
64.68 (-18.36)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Dan Albas (Conservative)
Provincial
Ben Stewart (BC Liberal)