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B.C. Liberals’ Ben Stewart wins Kelowna-West byelection

Stewart ran away from other candidates to reclaimed his former constituency
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Former B.C. Liberal MLA Ben Stewart got his old job back in Kelowna West. Alistair Waters/Capital News photo

On Feb. 14, B.C. Liberal Ben Stewart blasted past the other candidates and won the Kelowna-West byelection with 7,692 votes – slightly more than 56 per cent of the ballots.

Shelley Cook of the B.C. NDP finished a distant second with 3,197 votes, followed by the B.C. Green Party’s Robert Stupka with 1,727.

Cariboo-North MLA Coralee Oakes says the B.C. Liberal Party didn’t take anything for granted and his volunteers worked extremely hard to get the win for their candidate.

“Free enterprise was proudly standing behind him.”

Noting B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver spent 10 days campaigning for Green candidate Stupka, Oakes says they appeared to be comfortable with the numbers they were going to see.

“That didn’t necessarily materialize.”

Stewart gave up the seat for then-premier Christy Clark after she lost her Vancouver riding to the NDP in the 2013 provincial election.

Oakes notes Stewart “graciously” gave up his seat for Clark, so she could run in a byelection.

“When you look at Kelowna, we’ve had many premiers from there – it’s the heart of free enterprise.”

Oakes says she knows Stewart is going to do a great job in the riding.

“When I first got elected and I was minister of Community, Culture and Sport, it was a ministry he help previously.

“He provided me a lot of really good advice. He was a strong mentor and it’s always good to have someone from outside of the political scene provide their experience.”