Dyas underspent Basran but still won mayor’s seat in Kelowna

Tom Dyas spent $85,652 to oust Colin Basran from the mayor’s seat during the Kelowna municipal election last October, about $10,000 less than the incumbent.

Dyas’ expense records, released by Elections B.C. today, Feb. 2, show he only raised $74,760 in donations.

He did contribute $2,500 to his own campaign and had at least one fundraising event, according to the documents.

Dyas’ biggest expense was on signs at just over $32,000. More than $12,000 went for promotional materials and $7,200 for professional services.

Basran, on the other hand, spent big on professional services ($36,540) along with signs at $21,194. Social media cost him $21,000 (compared to about $200 for Dyas) and promotional materials were $7,558

In total, Basran spent $95,608 in his unsuccessful effort to be elected to a third term.

He brought in $98,100 from 77 donors and had five $1,200 donations listed as prohibited.

The spending limit for each candidate was $95,665.33.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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