Kelowna—Lake Country (British Columbia) 136/338

 Kelowna—Lake Country (British Columbia)

Today we're in Kelowna—Lake Country!

Kelowna—Lake Country has existed as a riding since 1997, created from Okanagan Centre. The population was 119,388 in 2016. The riding contains the city of Kelowna (127,380 in 2016, shared with Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola), as well as the district municipality of Lake Country (12,922 in 2016). Lake Country is the only municipality in BC that uses a ward system for municipal elections. 

Politically, this seat, much like the rest of the BC interior, has typically been safe for the Conservatives. However, in 2015 this seat went to the Liberals, the first time the Liberals have won a seat in the interior since 1974. The Green candidate dropped out early on and threw his support to the Liberals, and the Green Party of Canada didn't nominate a new candidate. This seat is currently held by Conservative MP Tracy Gray.

From 2013-2017, Premier Christy Clark represented part of this riding. She lost her seat in Vancouver-Point Grey in 2013, despite the BC Liberals winning a majority government. MLA Ben Stewart vacated his seat for her to run in the by-election. Christy Clark was the premier of BC from March 14th, 2011 until July 18, 2017, becoming the first woman to lead a party into an election win. BC has had a female premier before, Social Credit Rita Johnson was the premier for seven months in 1991 until the 1991 election, where the SoCreds lost almost all of their seats. In 2019, this seat was 24/42 in BC and 120/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is very good, names the two main municipalities in the riding. The shape is also pretty good, goes with a rural/urban split rather than an urban core Kelowna seat. As for individuality, it is cool that the riding flipped in 2015 after staying Conservative for years, and how easily it flipped back in a not great year for Liberals.

Tomorrow we're in Northern Ontario with Kenora!