B.C. Votes 2022: Election results for Kelowna, Kamloops and the B.C. Interior

Kelowna mayoral challenger Tom Dyas has unseated two-term incumbent Colin Basran with 62 per cent of the vote on Saturday.

Basran, who in 2018 received nearly double Dyas's support, had the tables turned on him this time, only securing 32 per cent of the vote.

David Habib, who runs a downtown nightclub, earned four per cent of the vote in third place.

"The excitement in this room, the community that's come together, the engagement of all the individuals, being closely surrounded by family and friends, it feels amazing," Dyas told CBC News following his win.

"I know that we have a lot of work to do. We made some very solid platform positions on some of the changes we're going to make to this community."

The race was dominated by issues related to public safety and housing affordability.

In election debates, Basran focused on his council's record of approving new housing units, with a focus on rentals, while Dyas promised to make it easier for homeowners to build carriage homes and secondary suites.

WATCH | Tom Dyas speaks about becoming the next mayor of Kelowna:

For council, 32 people ran for eight seats, with incumbents Maxine DeHart, Charlie Hodge, Mohini Singh, Luke Stack and Loyal Wooldridge re-elected. Rick Webber, Gord Lovegrove and Ron Cannan took the remaining three seats.

Kelowna mayor

Vernon

In Vernon, incumbent mayor Victor Cumming defeated challenger Scott Anderson, who previously served two terms on city council, with 50.1 per cent of the vote.

Anderson gained 42.3 per cent of the vote while Erik Olesen was third with 6.1 per cent.

The six council seats went to incumbents Kelly Fehr, Kari Gares, Teresa Durning, Akbal Mund, and Brian Quiring while Brian Guy was also elected.

West Kelowna

In West Kelowna, incumbent mayor Gord Milson defeated Andrew Kwaczynski with 79.9 per cent of the vote.

Stephen Johnston, Rick de Jong, Jason Friesen and Carol Zanon were re-elected while Tasha Da Silva and Garrett Millsap took the other two seats.

Penticton

First-term city councillor Julius Bloomfield narrowly won the mayoral seat in Penticton after defeating Jason Reynen.

Bloomfield won 33.4 per cent of the vote over Reynen, who captured 31.2 per cent.

Incumbent mayor John Vassilaki was a distant third with 20.3 per cent of the vote.

Penticton's six council seats were won by incumbents James Miller and Campbell Watt while Amelia Boultbee, Ryan Graham, Helena Konanz and Isaac Gilbert claimed the other four seats.

Penticton mayor

Osoyoos

In Osoyoos, a bid by a slate of candidates for mayor and council wasn't successful in taking power at city hall.

Incumbent mayor Sue McKortoff defeated challenger Dustin Sikora, the man behind the slate Osoyoos First.

She won 52.8 per cent of the vote, while Sikora captured 46.3 per cent.

During the campaign, Osoyoos First promised to fix long-standing issues with water quality and sewage treatment. They also pledged to address housing shortages and to bring doctors to Osoyoos.

Early in the election campaign, it was revealed Sikora had donated approximately $23,000 to the Freedom Convoy movement — the fifth largest Canadian donation.

McKortoff won landslide victories in the past two municipal elections and ran on her track record as mayor and political accomplishments, including a new sewage lift station, downtown revitalization and her leadership during the pandemic.

Zach Poturica and Johnny Cheong, both Osoyoos First candidates, were elected to the four-person council while James King and Myers Bennett claimed the other two seats.

Kamloops

Kamloops voters brought a shakeup to city hall by electing Reid Hamer-Jackson as their new mayor on Saturday. Hamer-Jackson won with 32 per cent of the vote, beating four other challengers.

The mayor's seat was up for grabs after Ken Christian decided not to run again.

Dieter Dudy was second with 24 per cent of the vote, while Sadie Hunter was third with 20 per cent.

Kamloops mayor

Hamer-Jackson, a newcomer to civic politics, said during the campaign that the city needs to address housing in order to create a safer community, including streamlining zoning and approvals for new housing developments.

"I never thought I was going to lose," he said about his win. "I'd never get in a race to lose."

Hamer-Jackson said he's ready to work with his council to solve issues facing the city.

"I can work with anybody as long as they tell the truth," he said.

Meanwhile, 23 people ran for eight council positions with incumbents Dale Bass, Mike O'Reilly and Bill Sarai being re-elected as incumbents while Katie Neustaeter, Kelly Hall, Margot Middleston, Stephen Karpuk and Nancy Bepple took the remaining seats.

Revelstoke

In Revelstoke, incumbent mayor Gary Sulz defeated Coun. Nicole Cherlet with 75.3 per cent of the vote.

Tim Palmer was the only incumbent to be re-elected to council. The other five seats went to Aaron Orlando, Lee Devlin, Austin Luciow, Tim Staphenhurst and Matt Cherry.

Merritt

In Merritt, Mike Goetz defeated incumbent Linda Brown.

The election race was dominated by promises to prioritize emergency preparedness in the wake of wildfires and floods that devastated the city and forced hundreds of residents out of their homes.

Brown had promised to continue to push for more supports, while challengers Tony Luck, Goetz and Mike Bhangu argued they would be able to get better results.

Lytton

Denise O'Connor was elected as the new mayor of Lytton following a campaign where candidates all focused on rebuilding the community following a devastating wildfire that destroyed much of it in 2021.

O'Connor received 87 votes over the 34 that were cast for Edith M. Loring-Kuhanga, who came second. A total of 129 out of 189 eligible voters cast ballots in Lytton.

Lytton mayor

The four councillors elected in Lytton on Saturday were incumbent Melissa K. Michell, Winona McCann, Jessoa Lightfoot and Jennifer A. Thoss.

The Kootenays

In Cranbrook, former councillor Wayne Price defeated incumbent mayor Lee Pratt by 963 votes in preliminary results issued by the city over Twitter.

Incumbent councillors Norma Blissett, Ron Popoff, Wesley Graham and Mike Peabody were re-elected while Lynnette Wray, and Wayne Stetski took the remaining two seats.

The city said it would announce the total number of ballots cast on Monday.

Nelson's five-way mayoral race was won by two-term councillor Janice Morrison, who took 43.9 per cent of the vote.

Incumbent John Dooley took 25.7 per cent of the vote, while John Buffery was third with 25.2 per cent.

Out of 11 people running for six council positions, incumbents Richard Logtenberg and Keith Page were re-elected while Kate Tait, Jesse Pineiro, Leslie Payne and Jesse Woodward took the remaining four seats

In Trail, councillor Colleen Jones defeated incumbent mayor Lisa Pasin with 53.9 per cent of the vote.

The six council seats went to Paul Butler, Bev Benson, Terry Martin, Nick Cashol, Doug E. Wilson and Thea Hanson.

Williams Lake

In Williams Lake voters elected Surinderpal Rathor as their new mayor, while incumbent Walt Cobb finished third.

Rathor won 34.1 per cent of the vote. He had served on council for 21 years before losing back-to-back bids for mayor in 2014 and 2018.

Jason Ryll, a two-term councillor, was second with 28.1 per cent, while Cobb, who was mayor from 1990 to 1996 and returned to the job for back-to-back election wins starting in 2014, won 24.2 per cent of the vote on Saturday.

Only two incumbent councillors were re-elected on Saturday: Sheila Boehm and Scott Nelson.

Joan Flaspohler, Michael Moses, Angelene Delainey and Jazmyn Lyons won the other four council seats in Williams Lake.