What it costs to get elected (and not elected) in Thompson and Okanagan ridings

B.C. Green Party candidates were, for the most part, the second biggest spenders in Thompson and Okanagan ridings in the 2020 provincial election, but the best they could do was finish third in all seven ridings.

Financial reports released by Elections B.C., Feb. 1, show that the B.C. Liberals were, by far, the big spenders in the region with Peter Milobar forking out $64,975 to win re-election in his Kamloops-North Thompson riding.

Ben Stewart, the Liberal’s lowest spending candidate, spent $31,093.14 in his reelection bid in the Kelowna-West riding.

Eric Foster was the only Liberal who was not re-elected. He spent $33,602 but lost a close race to the NDP’s Harwinder Sandhu. She only spent $5,218 for the win.

In six of the seven ridings, B.C. Greens outspent the NDP, averaging almost $10,000 per riding, with Dan Hines leading the way at just over $22,000 in Kamloops-South Thompson.

The one exception for the Greens was Ted Shumaker, who spent only $19 in the Penticton riding and still finished third out of four candidates.

In the seven ridings, the NDP averaged a bit over $5,200 in spending. The big spender was Summerland Mayor Toni Boot who failed to unseat Dan Ashton in Penticton. She spent $14,400 versus his $40,300.

Liberal candidates averaged about $43,800.

Here’s the full list of what each candidate spent:

Kamloops-North Thompson

$2,954.19, Dennis Giesbrecht, Conservative
$1,608.11, Sadie Hunter, B.C. NDP
$9,496.78, Thomas Martin, B.C. Green Party
$64,974.74, Peter Milobar, B.C. Liberal Party
$1,000, Brandon Russell, Independent

Kamloops-South Thompson

$22,068.35, Dan Hines, B.C. Green Party
$52,094.74, Todd Stone, B.C. Liberal Party
$7,526.89, Anna Thomas, B.C. NDP

Kelowna-Lake Country

$259.95, Kyle Geronazzo, Libertarian
$4,740.00, John Janmaat, B.C. Green Party
$977.00, Justin Kulik, B.C. NDP
$47,532.61, Norm Letnick, B.C. Liberal Party
$667.00, Silverado Brooks Socrates, Independent

Kelowna-Mission

$36,288.19, Renee Merrifield, B.C. Liberal Party
$9,931.05, Amanda Poon, B.C. Green Party
$3,206.31, Krystal Smith, B.C. NDP

Kelowna-West

$250.00, Matt Badura, Libertarian
$3,535.58, Spring Hawes, B.C. NDP
$722.20, Magee Mitchell, Independent
$31,093.14, Ben Stewart, B.C. Liberal Party
$3,191.00, Peter A Truch, B.C. Green Party

Penticton

$40,258.25, Dan Ashton, B.C. Liberal Party
$14,400.73, Toni Boot , B.C. NDP
$605,44, Keith MacIntyre, Libertarian
$19.00, Ted Shumaker, B.C. Green Party

Vernon-Monashee

$0.00, Kyle Delfing, Conservative
$33,601.57, Eric Foster, B.C. Liberal Party
$5,217.77, Harwinder Sandhu, B.C. NDP
$9,375.32, Keli Westgate, B.C .Green Party

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