Who commissioned a poll that puts former Conservative MPs ahead in Kelowna mayoral race?

A privately commissioned poll shows two former Conservative MPs in the lead for the Kelowna mayoral race later this year, but who exactly commissioned the poll isn’t clear.

The ballot scenario poll ostensibly shows councillor Ron Cannan and former Kelowna MP Tracy Gray are way ahead if the race were called today. It’s an odd poll considering polling in a smaller city is rarely done, and even more rare that it was shared publicly. Neither politician, nor current mayor Tom Dyas, has declared intentions for the municipal election.

The poll took a strange form. It didn’t rank all potential candidates. It asked two separate questions about voter intention.

The first question pits Cannan against mayor Tom Dyas and councillors Gord Lovegrove and Loyal Wooldrige. Cannan comes out ahead with 25 per cent, Dyas behind at 14 per cent and 42 per cent undecided.

The second question pits Tracy Gray against Dyas and she comes out ahead at 30 per cent and Dyas behind at 17 per cent with 34 per cent undecided.

The poll puts councillors Wooldridge and Lovegrove far behind at 7 per cent and 5 per cent on the hypothetical ballots.

Neither of those questions allowed polled residents to choose between Gray and Cannan if they were both on the ballot.

The poll was conducted by Pallas Data, an Ontario polling firm, but it was officially commissioned by the Pacific Conservative Foundation, then released by the Conservative Electors Association.

iNFOnews.ca attempted to contact the Pacific Conservative Foundation but there isn’t much information available on its site, just a red “donate” button and a mission statement.

Mario Canseco, president of the pollster Research Co., said it’s important to know who is paying for a poll.

“It’s just to have full transparency,” he said. “I’d say in the last 15, 20 years you have this evolution of people who simply set up a website and call themselves the citizens for whatever the hell we care about this week and they start commissioning things and you’ll never know who they are.”

He said privately commissioned polls can be just as accurate as polls done without a specific motivation, but often political organizations will bury polls that don’t fit their narrative.

“Not suggesting that the data is faulty, but in a different scenario where we’re 30 points behind, you probably would never see it,” Canseco said.

The Pacific Conservative Foundation’s website was created in September 2025. It’s only commissioned one other poll, in December, on provincial government voting intentions.

David Denhoff is the financial agent for the Conservative Electors Association and he said he received the poll directly from Pallas Data. He wasn’t able to immediately provide any information about who runs the Pacific Conservative Foundation and what the link is with the association.

“I can look into it for you and get back to you if I’m able to find something,” he said.

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Denhoff said it is common for them to put out a poll ahead of candidacy announcements to test the waters.

“Kelowna is a major city, so it’s especially common in larger jurisdictions,” he said. “We’re really excited about the results. It shows a strong appetite for a common-sense conservative candidate.”

Pallas Data’s CEO Joseph Angolano wasn’t aware the poll had been made public and couldn’t share more information about who commissioned the poll.

“This is very difficult for me to comment on because I didn’t even know this was released,” he said.

Denhoff said it’s never too early to get ready for an election.

“The election’s October 2026, which might seem far away, but it’s coming up fast, so there’s a lot that needs to be done ahead of the election,” he said.