A career politician who’s seeking to become the Conservative Party of Canada’s new leader is scheduled to visit the Okanagan next week.
On Saturday, April 9, MP Pierre Poilievre will visit Kelowna in the afternoon, then Vernon in the evening.
The Kelowna stop will take place at Sunset Ranch Golf Course at 2:30 p.m., with the Schubert Centre in Vernon hosting the North Okanagan stop at 7 p.m.
Prior to visiting the Okanagan, Poilievre will be in Vancouver on April 7, where he’ll make two stops, then be in Prince George on April 8.
Hailing from Calgary, Poilievre moved to Ontario to run in the 2004 federal election and won the riding of Nepean—Carleton. At the age of 25, he captured 45.7 per cent of the vote, defeating two-term Liberal MP David Pratt (40.1 per cent).
He has been re-elected six times: in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
His leadership bid has the backing of Conservative Okanagan MPs Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country) and Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola).
In a campaign stop in New Brunswick last month, Poilievre said he’d ban most non-U.S. foreign oil.
“Buying overseas oil from polluting dictatorships is terrible for our environment,” Poilievre said.
“It exports our jobs, our money and our pollution to countries with poor ecological standards. Instead, let us bring the jobs, money and business to the most environmentally responsible energy sector in the world here in Canada.”
The Conservative Party leadership race will culminate on Sept. 10.
— With files from Travis Fortnum
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a reference to an event the North Okanagan—Shuswap Conservative Association held in 2021.