Kelowna - Lake Country

This is an urban/rural riding with Okanagan Lake as its western boundary. The only major centre is Kelowna. Several First Nations reserves are also here, along with the District Municipality of Lake County.

Almost 15 per cent of the riding's residents are immigrants, and just under four per cent are aboriginals. Eighty-four per cent of residents have English as their mother tongue, 1.5 per cent have French and 13.5 per cent have a language other than one of the official languages. The 2006 census shows that German, Punjabi and Ukrainian are the top three in the latter category.

The economy here is varied, with retail trade, the service sector, construction and manufacturing the key employers. The Okanagan Valley is world-renowned for its orchards and vineyards and is a prime destination for golfers, skiers and retirees. Nineteen per cent of residents are seniors. The average family income is $75,713 and the unemployment rate is 4.9 per cent.

The Kelowna riding came into being in 1996, when it was carved out of Okanagan Centre. In the 2004 redistribution, it lost about 10 per cent of its population.

Population: 122,214 (2006 census; an increase of 9.9% since 2001)

Political History

This is a right-leaning region and for the past five decades it has favoured Tory, Reform and Canadian Alliance candidates. In that time, a Liberal has been elected here just once, in 1968.

The 2006 election was no exception: the Conservatives won again, this time with new candidate Ron Cannan.

In 2004, Conservative candidate Werner Schmidt retained his hold on the riding, defeating Liberal Vern Nielson by 11,144 votes. Schmidt had served since 1993 as a Reform/Canadian Alliance member. His wins were always by more than 10,000 votes.

Before Schmidt, Al Horning of the Tories held this seat for one term, preceded for two terms by Tory Vince Dantzer.

Okanagan Centre:

• 1988 - PC
• 1993 - REF

Kelowna:

• 1997 - REF
• 2000 - CA
• 2004 - CON