2005 Candidates (as received from Elections B.C.):

• Colin Black, BC Conservative Party
• Gordon Campbell, -
• Tom Christensen, BC Liberal Party
• Juliette Marie Cunningham, New Democratic Party of B.C.
• Erin Nelson, Green Party of BC
• Michael Toponce, British Columbia Marijuana Party
• Tibor Lesley Tusnady, B.C. Patriot Party

Maps from Elections B.C. will open in a new window.

District Profile:

Located northwest of Kelowna, this riding reaches from around Boleau Lake in the west to beyond Sugar Lake in the east, and stretches north to the headwaters of the Shuswap River. Vernon is the main population centre; other towns include Coldstream and Lumby. Economic mainstays are the service industry and manufacturing, with some agriculture, forestry and tourism. Ranching tends to be concentrated in the north, while orchards and root crops are found mainly in the south. Silver Star ski hill is also here. At $56,214, the average family income is quite low, while the unemployment rate is a high 10.8 per cent. Immigrants account for 12 per cent of residents; aboriginals for 5 per cent. At 56,926, this riding has the fifth-highest population in the province.

Political History:

The incumbent in Okanagan-Vernon is Liberal Tom Christensen, the minister of education. In 2001 he received four times the votes of runner-up Troy Sebastian of the NDP. Preceding Christensen was Liberal April Sanders, who won handily over the NDP's Howard Brown in 1996. Before Sanders' win this was largely a Socred riding: That party's Pat Jordan was MLA here from 1966-83, and was succeeded by Socred Don Campbell. Campbell died in office the next year and New Democrat Lyle MacWilliam triumphed in the byelection, but in 1986 the Socred's Lyall Hanson narrowly beat him. Hanson won again in 1991, by 985 votes over New Democrat Gilles de Chantal.

In 2001, the voter turnout in Okanagan-Vernon was 69.1 per cent – just below the provincial average.