B.C. has a new provincial government, which for the first time since 2017 will include representation from Kamloops.
The BC Conservatives took 63 of the legislature’s 93 seats and will form a majority government once sworn in this month.
In Kamloops Centre, Peter Milobar won decisively with 11,770 votes to the NDP’s Mike Wisla’s 6,751. Green Party candidate Annelise Beach secured 2,482 votes, while OneBC’s Rocky McAfee garnered 817 votes and independent Thaelo Proctor took home 243.
Ward Stamer won 17,232 votes in his victory in Kamloops-North Thompson, with the NDP’s Kory Clark trailing with 7,617 votes and OneBC’s Deborah Friesen pulling 1,670 votes.
In the aftermath of the election in late October, the NDP named former labour minister and New Westminster-Coquitlam MLA Jennifer Whiteside as interim leader, alongside Mike Farnworth as house leader and Niki Sharma as caucus chair.
Premier David Eby called the snap election in late September but resigned as party leader after the NDP secured only 28 seats, according to the preliminary results, which will be finalized after Nov. 10. Prior to the election the NDP held 47 seats in the legislature.
The Greens, meanwhile, maintained two seats in the legislature, with leader Emily Lowan securing representation for Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote winning again in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
As opposition, Kamloops MLAs often criticized what they saw as failings of the NDP government, including the lack of a PET-CT scanner in the new cancer care centre, a slow-moving rebuild of the Red Bridge and hospital staffing issues.
Milobar’s path to being a member of government is a complicated one. He was first elected as a member of the BC Liberal Party, which then rebranded as BC United. He later crossed the floor to the BC Conservative Party and ran for leader there, but lost in the first round earlier this year.
After his loss to now ousted leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Milobar left the party and briefly sat as an independent. During that time, he collected others who left the Conservatives to form a new party, then deciding instead to join CentreBC as leader, only to depart four days later to rejoin the BC Conservatives.
The new government may hold a shortened fall session beginning in November, but its leadership has yet to be finalized. Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson was appointed as interim leader and not elected by party members. According to the party’s constitution, an interim leader cannot become party leader, but it is expected the party will amend its constitution.