Cindy White
UPDATE 12:35 p.m
The results were almost an exact reversal of what happened in the last civic election.
Tom Dyas is Kelowna’s new mayor, beating Colin Basran by a two-to-one margin, after falling to the incumbent by a similar margin in 2018.
Two starters, Ryan Donn and Brad Sieben decided not to run, but there were also some surprises. Councilwoman and former regional district director Gail Given has lost her seat.
Voters seemed to want a change. Maxine DeHart, who got the most councilor votes in 2018, has just moved into eighth place in the polls. Newcomer Ron Cannan was leading the polls, with nearly 17,000 votes, just ahead of second-term councilor Loyall Wooldridge. The other new councilors are former Global Okanagan anchor Rick Webber and UBC Okanagan Associate Professor Gord Lovegrove.
The other councilors who were re-elected are Mohini Singh, Luke Stack and Charlie Hodge.
In his concession speech, Basran suggested that there was more than local issues at stake in this election.
“There are a lot of people in our community, in all communities, not just in Kelowna, but in all communities who are upset with various things that have happened in the last couple of years, in which city councils have no role . But I think it’s an opportunity for residents to express that concern or anger. That certainly played a role.”
“I think this city has grown a lot and for many residents, this is a big concern. And you know what, at the end of the day though, there’s nothing I would change,” Basran said.
Now the work begins for Dyas.
“As difficult as the election was, this was the easy part,” Dyas said in a speech to supporters Saturday night.
“Residents have given me a long list of things they’d like to see action on, from crime to housing to traffic. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I want you to know, I hear you, I’ll keep going working for you. I’m 120 percent committed to what you’ve given me.”
Basran said it’s too soon to say what he’ll do next, after spending the past 11 years on Kelowna city council, including eight as the face of the city.
Mayor
- Tom Dyas: 21,110 votes
- Colin Basran: 10,821 votes
- David Habib: 1,518 votes
- Glendon Smedley: 278 votes
- Silverado Sócrates: 226 votes
counselors
- Ron Cannon: 16,995 votes
- Loyal Woolridge: 14,579 votes
- Rick Webber: 11,656 votes
- Gord Lovegrove: 11,493 votes
- Mohini Singh: 11,439 votes
- Luke Stack: 11,307 votes
- Charlie Hodge: 11,238 votes
- Maxine DeHart: 11,115 votes
- Kyle Davis: 10,017 votes
- Gail Donat: 9,408 votes
- School board
- Julie Fraser: 13,480 votes
- Wayne Broughton: 13,273 votes
- Lee-Ann Tiede: 12,151 votes
- Val Johnson: 11,905 votes
UPDATE: 10:35 p.m
Tom Dyas is Kelowna’s new mayor, and five incumbent councilors will be back around the table for the next term.
The mayoral race was not close, with Dyas getting 62.17% of the vote, compared to 31.87% for incumbent Colin Basran.
In his concession speech, Basran indicated that there was a lot of anger in the community that had built up over the past two years over issues that were not necessarily controlled by municipal governments. He said that was probably one of the factors behind the push for change.
But while there was a major shake-up at the top, five of the six incumbent councilors who ran for re-election this year were successful.
Loyal Woolridge, Mohini Singh, Luke Stack, Charlie Hodge and Maxine DeHart were re-elected, while incumbent Gail Given was not.
Former Tory MP Ron Cannan, Rick Webber and Gord Lovegrove are the newcomers to the council this term.
Incumbents Ryan Donn and Brad Sieben opted not to run for re-election.
The City of Kelowna estimates voter turnout to be 30 percent of eligible voters.
Meanwhile, incumbents Wayne Broughton, Julia Fraser and Lee-Ann Tiede were re-elected to the school board, along with Val Johnson.
Cindy White
UPDATE 9:50 p.m
Kelowna has a new mayor.
With 14 of 21 polling stations reporting, Castanet declares challenger Tom Dyas the new mayor of Kelowna.
At his election party at the Kelowna Best Western, Dyas thanked his supporters at 9:45 p.m.
“Thank you to the citizens of Kelowna for trusting me to be your next mayor,” said Dyas.
“I wouldn’t be standing here before you if it weren’t for the volunteers I had working alongside me and on my campaign team.
“We had over 100 volunteers and it was an amazing effort from everyone who pitched in to help with all the things we had to do and I’m so grateful to you all.”
He also thanked outgoing mayor Colin Basran.
“Colin, thank you for your contribution to the city over the last 11 years. You took time away from your family to help build our city,” he said.
“You have always done what you thought was best to make the city the best it could be. Kelowna is lucky to have people like you who are willing to dedicate so much of your life to our community. Thank you for all you have done and you will. continue to do in the future.”
Dyas has maintained a strong lead throughout the night, and with 24,658 votes counted, Dyas has secured 15,041 votes, 62% of the current vote.
Basran has only secured 7,808 votes so far, just 32% of the current votes.
Although the mayoral race has not been particularly close, the council is still somewhat close.
At this time, the eight council seats are currently made up of former MP Ron Cannan, incumbent councilor Loyal Woolridge, Rick Webber, Gord Lovegrove, incumbent Luke Stack, incumbent Maxine DeHart, incumbent Mohini Singh and incumbent Charlie Hodge.
UPDATE 9:18 p.m
Tom Dyas got off to a strong start against incumbent Mayor Colin Basran in the Kelowna municipal election Saturday night, and has held onto his lead as more ballots come in.
With nine polling stations now reporting and 19,161 votes counted, Dyas has secured 12,069 votes, representing 63% of the votes counted. That’s nearly double the number of votes Basran has won so far, with 6,135.
With all seven constituencies reporting, the council’s eight seats are currently made up of former MP Ron Cannan, incumbent councilor Loyal Woolridge, Gord Lovegrove, incumbent Luke Stack, Rick Webber, incumbent Charlie Hodge, incumbent Maxine DeHart and incumbent Mohini Singh.
Kelowna’s four school counselor positions are currently filled by incumbents Julie Fraser, Wayne Broughton and Lee-Ann Tiede, along with Val Johnson.
UPDATE 8:50 p.m
With only three of 21 polling stations reporting, challenger Tom Dyas is off to a strong start in the Kelowna mayoral race.
Almost an hour after the polls closed, 6,508 votes have been counted and Dyas has secured 3,693 votes, just under 58% of the votes counted. Incumbent Mayor Colin Basran has 2,327 votes so far, 36%.
Incumbent councilor Loyal Woolridge has garnered the most votes for council so far, with Ron Cannan, Gord Lovegrove, Maxine DeHart, Luke Stack, Mohini Singh, Davis Kyle and Charlie Hodge rounding out the council’s eight seats so far.
UPDATE 19.40 h
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran will not speak to the media until the results are released.
Castanet stopped by his campaign headquarters at Avinguda Bernard and Carrer de l’Aigua around 5:30 p.m., while Basran left the building with some volunteers.
He locked the door as he left and said the media could not enter until the results were down.
An email from his campaign team confirmed that Basran will not be available until later in the evening.
“He wants to wait and see what the final results are, most likely not until 9:30 or so based on past history,” campaign manager Wayne Pierce said.
Basran’s perceived main challenger Tom Dyas is hosting a party tonight at the Best Western Hotel.
ORIGINAL 4 p.m
It looks like the Kelowna mayoral race is going to go all the way.
Incumbent Colin Basran is seeking a third term and is being challenged by Tom Dyas, David Habib, Silverado Socrates and Glendon Smedley.
Dyas topped a Castanet online poll last week for most wanted mayor, but the only poll that matters is inside the voting booth.
Basran has been following his experience in the mayor’s chair throughout his campaign.
“At the end of the day it’s about leadership and great relationships with higher levels of government,” he said in an earlier interview.
Dyas, the owner of TD Benefits and former president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, finished a distant second to Basran in 2018, but believes he has a better chance this time around.
“Over the last eight years, a lot of concerns that people have in the community have gotten worse,” Dyas said in an earlier interview.
“I wouldn’t be here before you if it wasn’t for the volunteers and my campaign team. We had over 100 volunteers, it was an incredible effort from everyone.”
There are a total of 32 candidates running for eight council positions. Ryan Donn and Brad Sieben are the only two starters not running again.
Names to watch as possible new contenders are Rick Webber, Ron Cannan, Gord Lovegrove, Davis Kyle and Tom Macauley. Kelowna, however, tends to vote mostly for the incumbents, so it’s hard for new faces to break through.
The City of Kelowna said as of 1 p.m., a total of 20,686 voters have cast their ballots.
Polls are open until 8pm and the results will be published in this news shortly after.
Castanet’s live election show starts at 7:30 p.m